To Get Them Back
by The Grecian Goddess
Summary: First the Big Three's Children go missing. Next, Annabeth goes after Percy and goes missing, too. Now its up to 2 demigods and a hunter to get back the most powerful demigods ever.
1. Chapter 1

Where am I?

I was sleeping and then… wait, I'm just dreaming. Then why am I staring at myself? Why am I high up in the sky? I look down and see I'm, well, the other me, standing in front of two girls, both around 14. I can't see them very well, we are all casted in a shadow. I look above them and see what exactly is causing the giant shadow. Above the girls and I was the biggest hellhound I have ever seen. It is growling at us, and I automatically knew it was trying to kill us.

I saw my other self pull out my bow and arrow and aim one at the beast. I shoot, but the arrow hits the monster's teeth and bounces right off. Then one of the girls steps out from behind me. She has an old fashioned looking sword in her hand, all decked out with jewels and stuff. I look at the girl. She is beautiful, she had long light brown hair that went down to her mid-back, tan skin, freckles, and her eyes, I couldn't tell if they were sky blue or… grey?

She whispered in my ear, and somehow I heard her say in a soft, gorgeous voice, "Distract it. I'll take care of the rest." She then ran off behind me into the forest that surrounded us. I saw myself pull back another arrow, then let all hell loose. I shot arrow after arrow, none of them seeming to penetrate its thick fur. The hellhound seemed as if it was smirking, showing how invincible it was.

Just then the girl who left came out of the forest from behind the hellhound and began to roll under the beast but before she could stand up and stab it, the beast saw her, and before I could yell at her, the beast jumped, planning on coming back down and squishing the girl.

"No!", I screamed as I sat bolt upright in my bed. My bed! Nicholas Olliver Burns, son of Apollo's bed. Nic's bed, nowhere near a giant hellhound. I breathed a sigh of relief and swing my legs over the edge of my bed. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and headed toward the showers. I liked waking up early, no wait for the showers and I got to take my sweet time. After a long 25 minute shower, I got dressed in a pair of jeans and a Camp T-shirt, and pulled on my favorite yellow Sperry's. I walked back into my cabin.

Will Solace looks like he just got up, his hair a mess and him leaning against a wall, eyes half closed. He weakly smiled. I walked over to him and asked if anything was wrong since he wasn't looking so hot. "Well, I think I'm sick. I'm just gonna sit the day out. Will you lead the cabin today?" I smiled and practically screamed "Yes!" Will laughed as he crawled back into bed. "Would you please do the honors?" "Oh, of course", I replied. I turned from his bed.

"Alright, Apollo Cabin! Get up! Our father is in the sky, hence we must get up!", I yelled to all my siblings. I saw lumps on each bunk bed moving a little, but nothing more than that. I knew what I had to do, Will used this trick during times like this. "Last one up has trash duty for a week!" That got them up. Everyone was immediately making their beds or sprinting for the showers. I laughed at their rush. Breakfast started in an hour! The other cabins never get up this early, but all of us being the children of the sun god, we got up pretty early.

Everyone was now in line for a shower stall. I'm about to walk out and practice my archery for a few minutes, when I hear a moan and I see a lump move on the bed nearest me. I turn around to see a small figure curled up under the blanket, with nothing but her head showing. Her dirty blonde wavy hair cascading over her pillow, I move it all back to the back of her head and pull back to blanket to find my baby sister, well, half-sister, curled into a ball.

"Gotta get up, Sofey. All the showers will be taken soon." I tell her. I hear her mumble something as she tries to pull the blanket out of my hand. "Sofey-girl, you gotta get up. Everyone else did. What did you say?" I finish as she mumbles something again. She finally opens her amber eyes, almost identical to mine.

"I said", she tells me in a very high pitched, 7 year old voice, "I don't want to take a shower and do I have trash duty?" she looked at me with pleading eyes, "no, you don't have trash duty. But you do have to get up and get dressed. Come on", I say to her as I picked her up bridal style and took her to her trunk. She laughed as I spun her around before her down. She smiled then turned and opened her trunk, pulling out clothes and heading for the bathroom. I smiled and grabbed my yellow cuffs off my bedside table.

My dad had given me these special cuffs for my 12th birthday, 3 years ago. As I said, the cuffs were yellow and had a golden sun shining on the outside. I opened one cuff and locked it into place on one of my wrists, and did the same on the other. I walked down to the archery range. When I got there, I tapped my cuffs together. I heard a soft _clank _and next I knew I was holding a bow already loaded with an arrow. I started shooting.

After about half an hour of satisfying practice, I walked back to the cabin. All my sibling were now wide awake and were doing their chores quietly, having noticed the sleeping, sick Will. I went over to my bunk and started making it. After a while the bell rang, telling the camp breakfast was ready. "Time for breakfast, my dear cabin! Line up!" I went to the door and watched as the cabin lined up behind me. I lead my cabin to the mess hall, looking around at all the other cabins, sleepily moving toward the mess hall next to us.

**~~~~Skipping Breakfast~~~~**

Our first class, Sword fighting. We were all pretty good at it, but of course archery was more of our thing. Then on to arts and crafts. We all walked out , laughing at our paint fight, which got all of us looking like multicolored flowers. After a quick clothes –change, we had free time. I was planning on practicing my archery more, but instead I was met by Connor Stoll once I stepped out of the cabin.

"Chiron is calling a meeting for all the head of cabins! Do you know where Will is? He needs him there now!" Connor told me, out of breath from running there. "Will is sick and I'm the head for today. I'll walk to the Big House with you", I replied.

Connor huffed and turned around and began to run back, but I grabbed his arm and stopped him. "wow, I said walk! Look, all the other heads are walking!" I pointed out to him. He nodded his head in agreement and fell in line next to me. We walked in a comfortable silence until we were taking seats in the rec. room. Even though we didn't run there, we were still the first. I looked at Connor, Travis sitting right behind him.

"You guys know what's up?"

"No idea dude, Chiron just called it", Connor told me. Travis cleared his throat.

"Actually", he said, smirking at his brother," I heard someone went missing yesterday!" My mouth hung open in shock.

"Who?" I inquired.

"I don't know, my informer wouldn't tell me", he told me, looking disappointed at the memory. Everyone then came piling in. I looked around.

Clarisse was sitting next to Travis, who was trying to slyly grab her wallet sticking out of her pocket. Drew was admiring herself in a compact mirror. When she noticed me looking she smiled and did a little wave. I rolled my eyes and flipped my bangs out of my eyes. I usually prided myself on my good looks, with my platinum blonde hair, I grew so it looked kinda like JBiebs, amber eyes, very rare to mortals, but quite common for kids of Apollo, and my tan skin, but when it came to Drew, I wish I was as ugly as a Hephaestus kid, no offence. I saw Katie Gardner sit across from Travis and look him straight in the eyes as she told Clarisse what he was doing. Pollux, from the Dionysus cabin, came in after her and took a seat. As he sat, Jake Mason from the Hephaestus cabin came in. Unfortunately for him, he had to sit next to Drew to avoid sitting in Annabeth or Percy's seat. That's when I realized they weren't here. Neither was Nico. I didn't have time to think about it.

"Heroes!" Chiron called to all of us. Everyone stopped talking and faced him respectfully. "We are in the midst of a problem. And I am afraid I must assign a quest for this particular situation." He was about to say more when Rachael came running through the door.

"Sorry I'm late! I was trying to look into the future. It's crazy, I tell ya", she told us as she casually sat down in her plush seat next to Chiron. We all turned our attention back to Chiron.

"As I was saying…" his voice faltered at the end. He looked down and took a deep breath. This must be really big.

"What is it Chiron?" Katie asked, sounding concerned. All the heads started adding in, saying comforting things to support Chiron. Chiron looked up, then at Percy, Annabeth, and Nico's empty seats. He took one last sigh before saying,

"I am afraid Percy and Nico have gone missing." We all stared at him.

"What about Annabeth?" I asked, noticing her name was not mentioned.

"Ah, here is another difficult thing. She was apparently at the beach with Percy, when… well, I'll just read the note." Chiron pulled a piece of paper out of his saddle bag and began to read the messy, hastily written note.

_Dear Chiron,_

_I have to go now or I may never find Percy again. We were at the beach when something, I think it was a hellhound, jumped out of nowhere. Percy tried to protect me, but the hellhound grabbed him and ran off! I think I saw Nico knocked out on the hellhounds back. I was running towards them… something hit me. I was knocked out and when I woke up there was no sign of anyone. I have to leave NOW while everything is still fresh. I will be back, with Percy._

_Love, Annabeth_

Chiron threw the note on the table, where we all passed it around.

"As you can know tell, Annabeth went after Percy. This happened almost a week ago. Annabeth has also been declared missing by the gods." Chiron was about to say more when Travis spoke up.

"Why hasn't anyone noticed that they were gone? It's been a whole week and nobody has noticed? Seriously?" He looked around the room as everyone shook their heads, coming to the same conclusion, no one has noticed any of the missing people's absence. I thought back through the week, sure I could remember seeing Percy while canoeing, or Annabeth reading somewhere, or even Nico randomly popping in and out of the forest, but… I can't. I don't remember anything.

"Ah, that is something I can explain", Chiron says, nervously shifting his weight from one hoof to the other. We all looked at him expectantly. "The gods did not want you to know of the disappearances. Therefore the Mist was used to ensure no one noticed", Chiron explained. We all stared in shock at Chiron.

Why was this held from us? We has all the right to know our friends were missing! Just as everyone was about to start talking at once, Rachael stood up. Her eyes were clear and green mist was coming out of her mouth. She then spoke in her creepy three person voice and she said the prophecy**. (A/N please keep in mind I made this up, not the famous Rick Riordan!)**

_To find the three you seek_

_You must join the sun, moon, and garden with a blue streak_

_The demigods are hidden in each others domain_

_To find them is simple and plain_

_But you must fight Earth at the Son of Poseidon's shack_

_To successfully finish your quest and safely get back_

We all stared, and before we could say anything, a mist formed in front of Chiron's face. He shook his head and focused on the image. We all saw through the mist to recognize Lady Artemis. In the background you could see a forest, with her hunters running around. They were yelling something, but we couldn't hear them. Chiron bowed in front of the mist.

"Lady Artemis", he said.

"Thank you Chiron, but there is no time for formalities. My Lieutenant, Thalia Grace, is missing. We cannot find her anywhere", Artemis told him in a rush, looking around the Iris message, seeing if Thalia might be hiding behind it. We all sat in shock, again. Wasn't this just a fun afternoon. The conch horn for lunch had rang a long time ago, and we heard the surge of kids, yelling and screaming as they came out of the mess hall. We were sitting in silence.

"Oh dear, this isn't good. My Lady, we have also discovered that Perseus Jackson and Nico di Angelo are missing. This cannot be good being that…"

"They are all children of the Big Three", Artemis finished, looking even more worried than before.

"Uh, Chiron?", Pollux said nervously.

"Yes, child?" Chiron asked through forced happiness.

"The Prophecy said the sun, moon, and garden must join, so that must mean a child of Apollo, the sun god, a child of Demeter, the garden, and then the moon…" He trailed off but not before Clarisse picked up on what he was implying. "So we also need a Hunter of Artemis, the moon goddess, to completely fulfill the Prophecy." She finished. Everyone looked to the Mist with Artemis still there, who had heard everything. She nodded.

"I will send a representative now. She shall arrive by morning. Goodbye Chiron."

"Goodbye, My Lady", Chiron sighed as he ran his hand through the mist.

Everyone was still not speaking, letting everything that had just happened sink in. Something big is coming, and we all know it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry, I may not have made this clear. This story takes place after "The last Olympian" but before "The Lost Hero". Alright, read on. And PLEASE , if you have a story, I would love for you to… advertise my story! This is my first fanfiction, so I really want to get the word out about it! Thank you!**

Chapter 2: First a missing Lieutenant, then a worried goddess, next a calm but not calm centaur, then the craziness starts

Meghan's POV

I saw Lady Artemis end her Iris-Message with Chiron. I couldn't hear what she had been talking about, but when she turned from her call, she looked even more disturbed than before.

All morning we, the hunters, have been looking all around our campsite for Thalia Grace. After almost 5 hours of searching, Artemis called the camp. She can't seem to focus on anything, Thalia was always her favorite. And her missing, well, Artemis didn't like it.

I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I shook my head, and turned around to see Phoebe.

"Hey Meg, something wrong? You look like something is bothering you", she asked me. Phoebe always tries to act like my best friend, ever since Zoe passed away.

Zoe and I were in the hunt together for what seems forever, then she went on the quest. I expected her to come back with Lady Artemis, but instead she never came back.

"Ya, I'm fine, thanks", I smiled at her, and she smiled back and went off to continue searching. I sighed, and I was about to continue as well, but Artemis caught me by the arm.

"Is my assistance needed, Lady Artemis?" I asked her.

"Yes, actually. I have just been told… rather disturbing news. I do notice that you do not have the same hatred towards men as several of my other hunters", she looked at me questioningly. I nodded, wandering where this was going. Lady Artemis continued.

"Chiron has just informed me that the sons of Poseidon and Hades have also disappeared. A prophecy has been spoken, and a hunter is required to fulfill the quest. I believe you are the most worthy for this problem", she finished. I stared at her, letting everything she just said sink in.

Me? On a quest? I have always just stuck with the hunt, never bothering to mix with demigods. I am a demigod, child of Athena, but the Hunt has been like a home to me, I never wanted to have the chance to think I might like being at Camp Half-Blood more than the Hunt.

"I believe you are thinking too hard, Meghan", Artemis told me, "your eyes are a dark grey." I nodded my head.

My eyes are… odd. Since I am a daughter of Athena, my eyes should naturally be grey. But my dad's eyes were sky blue, so for some odd reason, mine are too. But whenever I am thinking hard, from battle strategies to what I should wear, my eyes would turn grey. Just an Athena thing, I guess. I looked at Lady Artemis, we were about eye level, I am 14 and Artemis is in her 14 year old state.

"I have never been on a quest, My Lady. I believe others in the Hunt may be more prepared for a quest than I. Maybe Melinda, or Gwen, or Phoebe would be good…"

"Ah, yes, they are good choices, but they _cannot _tolerate men. This quality you have is necessary for this quest. Meghan Pallas Alexander", I flinched at my full name, nobody uses it, or knows it for that matter, "You are going to represent me on the quest to save the children of the Big Three." Well, her mind was made up.

"Yes, My Lady", I nodded," I will… go pack."

I walked off to my tent, which we had not yet taken down due to the search. Most of my stuff was already in my bag, since I had already started packing to leave our sight before Thalia's disappearance was noticed. I checked my bag to make sure I had everything. My extra clothes, my silver parka, not that it was going to snow in the middle of summer, and my dress. Nobody knew I even had a dress. I looked around to make sure no one was in the tent, then withdrew the dress from my bag. I held it out in front of me. This dress had a long, complicated history. A story for another time. I sighed and folded it back into my bag. I threw in my sleeping bag and I was ready. I stepped out of the tent, and saw all the hunters crowded around Lady Artemis. I walked up to them. I listened to what Artemis was saying,

"…and in Thalia's absence, her temporary replacement as my Lieutenant will be Phoebe." There was a short clap for her as she smiled a big ear-to-ear smile. "I am sending Meghan to go after Thalia with two other demigods Chiron is sending on the quest with her." All eyes averted to me at the back of the group. I looked down to hide my blush. "Now that you all know what exactly is happening, I must have a few words with Meghan before she departs. Meghan, to my tent please."

I nodded and followed her to her tent. Before she let me enter, she turned to me. "You may want to say goodbye to your fellow hunters before I transport you to Camp Half-Blood." I nodded and went back to the group. I looked among the 30 girls, trying to find my friends. I saw Clara in the back, so I parted the group and walked to her.

"Just wanted to say bye, Clara", I told her as I pulled her into a hug.

"And good luck to you Meg!" she told me, sounding excited. She pulled back and smiled. "Go show the world Meg the Great! Because she is amazing!"

"Thank you, Clare. I'll make sure to do that." I smiled at her nickname for me. She is the only hunter, besides Zoe, that knows all about my past. The nickname always made me think of my dad. I walked over to Phoebe to tell her goodbye, and she also wished me good luck. Many other girls said the same, and I ended up walking back to Artemis' tent. She was sitting on a plush pillow on the ground. Next to her was my hunting dog, Argo.

He ran up to me and sat in front of me, expecting a pet. I scratched his head before sitting in front of Lady Artemis.

"As you can see, I have summoned your hunting dog here. I am giving you the rare option of taking Argo with you. I believe he will come in handy at one point. But of course he will only appear when he is called." I smiled and hugged Argo, who had sat next to me.

"Yes! Of course! Thank you Lady Artemis!"

"My pleasure. Now you must be off. I am going to transport you to Half-Blood Hill. From there Chiron will explain everything."

"Yes, my Lady", I replied standing up along with her. "Good Luck Meghan. The moon will always help you." I smiled and thanked her.

She told me to close my eyes. I pet Argo one more time before doing as she asked. I felt as if I was floating, and then the next second I felt a cool breeze on my tan skin. I opened my eyes and saw I was at the top of Half-Blood hill, and the breeze whipping my long, light brown hair all over. I stepped over the border and the breeze stopped. I looked over the camp.

It was mid-morning, yet the camp seemed to be in full swing. I could hear metal clashing and groans of defeat coming from the arena. I heard heavy banging coming from a little workshop. There was also the beautiful sound of music coming from the strawberry fields, where I saw satyrs playing their flutes. Then I remembered why I was here. I made my way to the Big House. I stepped on the porch and was met by a lazy sounding voice,

"Well, looks like Artemis just _needed_ to send me more children. I can barely stand the kids I have now. Who are you?" I turned and saw Lord Dionysus sitting at a small table with cards in his hands. I saw three other sets of cards just floating in the air around him. I approached him and bowed.

"Lord Dionysus, Lady Artemis has sent me to fulfill the latest prophecy as a representative of the moon", I greeted him, even though from my past stays at Camp Half-Blood, he never did seem friendly.

"Ah, now if only the campers were as formal as the hunters. Mr. D seems to be getting rather old. Stand, huntress." I did as he asked. "Chiron is in the living room if that's who you want", he told me, looking back at his cards and setting one down on a pile.

"Thank you, My Lord", I said as I walked away. Wasn't he a fun guy. Of course, as Mr. D said, Chiron was in the living room, talking to a boy. I examined the boy before stepping in. He had long, platinum blonde hair, tan skin, and when he noticed me standing at the door, I saw his eyes were… a very light brown? What is the term… amber.

"Who are you?" he asked me. Before I could answer Chiron spoke. "You must be Lady Artemis' representative. I am Chiron, as you most likely know. May I ask your name, huntress?"

"Meghan, Lord Chiron", I replied to him, and I saw his face slightly blush.

"Oh, no need to be formal. Just Chiron is fine, Meghan. Thank you for coming. This is Nicholas", he said, pointing to the boy, who was now standing from the coach he was occupying before. "He has been chosen to also go on the quest. Nicholas", before he could continue, 'Nicholas' interrupted him.

"Please, Chiron, it's just Nic! Only my grandma calls me Nicholas!"

"Very well", Chiron sighed before continueing what he was saying, "Nic, will you please tell her the prochecy at hand?"

"Yes, Chiron." Nic looked at me before saying, "It said,

_To find the three you seek_

_You must join the sun, moon, and garden with a blue streak_

_The demigods are hidden in each other's domain_

_To find them is simple and plain_

_But you must fight Earth at the Son of Poseidon's shack_

_To successfully finish your quest and safely get back"_

He finished and looked to Chiron. Chiron nodded and looked at me.

"Our Leaders here have already deciphered that a child of Apollo, the sun, a representative of Artemis, the moon, and a child of Demeter, the garden. Beyond that, not much has been deciphered." I thought about it. I couldn't come up with much either.

"Well, we can start by finding our third quest member. A child of Demeter, you say?" Chiron nodded.

"But what does it mean 'and the garden with a blue streak'? That doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah, I've noticed that, too", Nic said. I looked at him. He looked so… confident. I had the feeling he always had this "confident" posture because of his looks. I mean, from a girl's point of view, he was, well, hot. But as a hunter, he was just a boy. I don't think he's… cute or anything. I'm a hunter! I don't like Nic… wait I should get back to the point.

"I'm afraid I do not know what the prophecy means either. But you may want to go to the Demeter cabin anyway. Maybe the prophecy will become clearer on your travels. And I'm sure Katie would love to go on a quest. She is very… handy", Chiron told Nic, since I had no idea who Katie is. But I could sense doubt in his voice. I don't believe he thinks Katie is the third quest member. But I guess she is the best we will get.

"Ok, Chiron, thanks, we'll go check out the Demeter cabin", Nic said as he took my hand and pulled me out the door. Once we stepped on the porch he stopped and looked at me. He smiled and introduced himself.

"By the way, I'm Nicholas Burns, son of Apollo. But I just go by Nic." He held out the hand that wasn't still holding mine for me to shake, but instead I held up the hand he was holding, showed him, and shook that hand before dropping it. He looked at our hands and quietly said, "oh, yeah, sorry" before blushing and kept walking. I followed him.

"I guess I must introduce myself. I am Meghan Alexander, but I go by Meg."

"Oh, cool name. So, are you a demigod? Or mortal? Or I guess you could be a nymph, but they don't really have last names…" I cut him off by saying,

"I am a demigod. Daughter of Athena, at your service."

"Oh, so this must be a personal thing for you, right?" What? What did he mean "personal"?

"What do you mean by personal? Lady Artemis just sent me, she didn't have a specific reason." Well, I do know she had a reason for sending me, but, really, I don't want to tell a_ man _that I sent because I don't hate guys. Might be a bit of a downer.

"Well, Annabeth went after Percy, the son of Poseidon, and know she is missing, too. Annabeth is also a child of Athena, so I just, you know, thought…" Nic didn't finish the sentence, just looked down sheepishly.

"I wasn't aware of a daughter of Athena missing, I never met any of my siblings that reside here. But since we do share brain waves, thank you for your concern", I told him, I couldn't stand the guilty feeling I had when he looked down. He looked up and smiled at me. From there we walked in an awkward silence, until we stopped at a cabin that looked very… plantish? There was grass on the roof, flowers everywhere, and it was all, well, green. Nic knocked on the door. A girl around 16 answered the door.

"Well hi there, what's up?" the girl asked. Nic replied, "Hey Katie", so this was the girl,

"Well, you know what the prophecy said about the garden, so we are assuming it is a child of Demeter. Now, since you are the leader, you are our first option. So we need to know if you want to…" Nic was cut off a loud thump. Katie jumped like she had been frightened and looked down.

Laying there was a girl, obviously a daughter of Demeter. The girl had brown hair, olive colored skin, and when she stood up from her fall, I could see total embarrassment in her green eyes.

"Sorry", she said sheepishly, blushing like crazy. The girl looked the Katie. "What's going on Katie? Hey Nic, and who is this?" she said, looking at me on the last part. I smiled at her.

"Oh, sorry, I'm Meghan. I came as a representative of Lady Artemis." I held out my hand so she could shake it. Before she took my hand to shake it, she ran her hand through her hair to tame it down from her fall. That's when I saw it. I stared at her in utter shock. She stared back at me questioningly. Nic saw her face, and looked at me.

"Hey Meg, what's wrong?" I looked at him, and back at the girl.

"Who are you?" I asked her.

"I'm Chloe Parsons, daughter of Demeter", she said, a little uneasily. I looked at Nic again and then grabbed a strand of Chloe's hair and showed it to Nic. He opened his mouth to question what I was doing, then saw what I meant.

"You have a blue hair streak", he told Chloe. She stared at him, giving him a "well, duh" type of face, and then I explained.

"Chloe, the prophecy says, '_You must join the sun, moon, and garden with a blue streak'._ A child of Demeter is needed for the garden, and at first we thought we could just pick anyone, but now we know, the garden with the blue streak is you. Chloe Parsons, you are the third quest member."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Just a trip to Olympus… wait, WHAT?

Chloe's POV

"_What_?" was all I could say to Meghan.

What did my blue streak have to do with anything? There were plenty of girls at camp that had streaks. I know Silena used to get pink streaks, and Clarisse gets red streaks, and even though they were meant to be a fashion statement, she made them look intimidating.

"The prophecy", Nic said, shaking his head, clearing his thoughts, "The prophecy pretty much _told _us you are the third quest member. Are you the only child of Demeter with a blue hair streak?"

"Um, ya", I could barely even think right now, much less talk. They want me on a quest! I've only been here since the end of last summer! I was brought here as a result of the Titan War.

"Well then", Meghan finally started talking, getting into the conversation," then you're in. Congrats. You might want to pack, we leave in the morning."

"But, uh, Meg?" Nic kinda stuttered, I could tell he was debating if he should say what he was thinking or not. "We have no idea where we need to go." Guess he chose to say it.

Meg's face paled at that fact. I had a feeling she had overseen this fact. As I was staring at her, her eyes… they changed. They were a pretty sky blue, but then as soon as Nic voiced the problem, her eyes turned grey. I was about to say something, when I also noticed her facial expression. It looked so… _familiar._ But the thing was, I had never met Meg before now. Why did she look so familiar with that look on? Then it hit me.

"You are a daughter of Athena", I blurted out. ADHD, what ya gonna do?

Meg looked at me in another familiar expression. But this time I knew where I had seen the "_Well, duh", _ facial expression.

"You look just like Annabeth when you are thinking", I again blurted out. I mentally faced palmed myself.

"Oh, you mean the missing girl? Yes, I became aware of my sibling's disappearance not long ago. Nic just told me", She said, dismissing my little episode, and going back to her "_thinking_" face.

Wow, I feel really dumb. I was always aware of my ADHD, (its kinda hard not to be aware of it), but it finally made sense when my dad told me who I am. My dad knew who my mother was all along, but he was told I wouldn't be a big problem because of my not-so-major-parentage. But then the Titan War came around. I have since then been informed of the war, of my family that I never knew, and about all the other loose ends in my life that now made total sense.

"I've got it!" Meg practically screamed, scaring me out of my thoughts. "Shall we proceed to somewhere more private to discuss our quest?" Meg asked, looking at Nic and i.

"I think this is my cue to leave", Katie said awkwardly. We all stared at her, having totally forgotten she was there. Katie smiled and walked out of the cabin, looking like she was heading to the strawberry fields. I looked behind me and saw that now my cabin was empty.

"Well, my cabin's clear. Come on in", I said as I stood aside, holding the door open.

Nic and Meg looked around, examining the cabin. Luckily, it was pretty neat. Cabin Inspections were about 20 minutes ago, so no one had had a chance to mess up everything. I looked at my bunk. It was made, of course, but I was just relieved that we had inspections, if not my bed would be a mess. I looked around the cabin, too. The Demeter Cabin had wallpaper that looked like a forest. It was really realistic, and it was, well, real. The trees moved like there was a breeze, and in winter, there was snow and no leaves, in fall they were all orange and yellow, and so on. Of course there were bunks and at the front of the cabin were three little, circular, three-people tables. I motioned at one of these tables and Nic and Meg sat down. I followed suit.

"Soooooo", I drew out, ruining the current silence, "What did you figure out, Professor Meghan?"

Meghan gave me a short death glare, which I replied with a smile. She rolled her eyes and started talking.

"First, it's just Meg, if you don't mind. My dad and Lady Artemis are the only people who call me Meghan. And second, the prophecy said '_The demigods are hidden in each other's domain_'. So, the three missing are the children of the three gods that the world is divided between." Meg looked at us with a big smile. All we gave her were confused faces. She sighed.

"'_The demigods are hidden in each others' domain'"_, She quoted again, then continued, "Well, Thalia Grace's domain is the sky, because her father is the god of the sky. Perseus Jackson's domain is.."

"The sea, because his father, Poseidon, is the god of the sea", Nic continued for her, nodding his head in understanding.

"So Nico di Angelo's domain is the underworld, because of Hades", I finished, also smiling in realization, and slightly blushing at the mention of Nico. We were really good friends.

"So now we know where we have to go!" Meg exclaimed. "We have to find places those three gods go to, because that is where the kids are hidden."

"Uh, one problem", I said, the thought just hitting me," Zeus' domain is the sky, but whoever took Thalia, Percy, and Nico isn't dumb enough to hide one of them on Olympus. There has to be somewhere else. And on that thought, were would they hide someone is the sea? It's huge! Both Poseidon and Zeus have to have, like, a secret place or something", I finished, out of breath.

I looked at the other two, feeling very proud of myself. Meg had a happy glint in her eyes, which were now sky blue again. Then I remembered when that happened at the door a few minutes ago.

"So what is up with your eyes?" I asked her. And there re-goes the ADHD. She was about to say something when Nic started to talk.

"The better question is, if Zeus and Poseidon_ do_ have 'secret places', where are they?"

Of course someone has to ruin my _ah-ha_ moment. I looked at Meg, to see her eyes once again grey, and I could practically see her mind working. We were all thinking, pretty hard, before we heard something. They were footsteps on my cabin's porch. The footsteps were really heavy, like someone had jumped up. Then the door burst open to reveal my best friends, Jenny and Hallee.

"Hola Chica!" Hallee shouted out, holding her arms open in a "_am I not amazing?" _style. Guess that's what you get for being a daughter of Aphrodite.

"Hal, you don't pronounce the 'h'in hola", Jenny said, of course doing her "daughter of Athena" thing.

I sighed at my friends as they examined Nic and Meg. Hallee smiled at Nic, she always did have a crush on him. When he politely returned the smile, she looked at me in a "_Why is he here?"_ way. I just shrugged and mouthed "_I'll tell you later_".

"Oh sorry Clo, I didn't know you would be busy", said Jenny, looking at our serious faces.

"Who are you?" asked Hallee Meg in her daughter of Aphrodite voice.

"Meghan, Hunter of Artemis", Meg replied in an absent-minded tone, still thinking.

"Soooo", I said awkwardly, again," Whatcha guys need?" I asked the girls.

"Oh, we just wanted to hang out", said Hallee, who was examining herself in a compact mirror before finishing and replacing it in her pocket.

"Oh, cool!" I said back. I stood up and looked at Nic and Meg. "Uhm, I'm gonna go with them and kinda give them the rundown, since we're leaving tomorrow"

They both nodded, Meg still thinking and Nic awkwardly looking at Hallee as she gawked over him.

"Feel free to stay in here, my cabin has Sword Fighting 'til 5", I told them as I followed Halle and Jenny out the door.

I sped up and squished myself in between them. We hooked arms and walked to our secret tree-house, which we constructed ourselves. I looked at Hallee. She was really pretty, as always. She super tan skin, something I was jealous of the most, down the back red hair, and rich, chocolate brown eyes. She was also wearing a spaghetti strap sundress, that had a floral pattern on it. Jenny had rather pale skin, she was never outside much, blonde, straight shoulder length hair, and grey eyes, like all Athena kids. She had on her usual Plaid shorts and matching shirt, today her color was yellow.

We finally reached our tree house and climbed up. We had all chipped in to make it. Hallee used her charmspeak, which no one knew she had except us, to convince the tree nymphs to let us use their trees. I, being a daughter of Demeter, had made a steady floor out of tree branches and other stuff. And Jenny had used her smarts to figure out everything else.

"So, what was Nic doing in there, Chloe?" Hallee asked, trying to hide her jealousy.

"That's what I need to tell you guys", I said uneasily, " I'm…"

"YOU ARE _NOT _DATING HIM, ARE YOU?" Hallee screamed, looking at me angrily, "CLO, YOU KNOW I LIKE HIM, AND THEN YOU GO…"

"Calm down, I am not dating him", I told her, rolling my eyes at her conclusion jumping. "I'm… I'm going on a quest. To save Percy and Nico."

They both gawked at me. I shrunk away. I knew they would explode. They had both been here for a long time, and I had come last year. Before Percy Jackson came, people at camp had had to wait until their 5th year to get a quest. And even though that rule had been broken, it was still usually followed. But instead of exploding, Jenny gave me a nod.

"I knew from the prophecy you were going", she stated, "you are the only daughter of Demeter with a blue streak. Pretty simple, and I was about to tell Chiron, but first I wanted to bring you here and tell you, since you should know first."

Hallee was just nodding along, obviously already have been told.

"oh, well that makes it easier", I said. Jenny checked her watch and sighed.

"Dinnertime" she said as she climbed down. Wow, time flies when you're having fun.

**~~~~Skipping Dinner~~~~**

I was just about to enter my cabin on my way back from dinner when I heard my name being called. I turned around to see Nic running toward me.

"Hey, Nic. What's going on?" I asked as I turned around to face him.

He sat down on the porch steps and patted the spot next to him. I sat down and looked at the night sky. The stars were always really pretty from here.

"Well, Meg and I decided we will go to Olympus tomorrow and just flat out ask Zeus and Poseidon if they have any secret places we should know about." He said, looking totally at ease.

I stared at him, mouth wide open.

"O-O-Olympus?" I managed to spit out. I've never been to Olympus.

"Yeah. Meg is telling Chiron our plan right now. I'm going to go pack and hit the sack, and I'd advise you to do the same", He sighed, standing up, then offering his hand to help me up. I took it.

"Will do, chief", I said, as I nodded my head at him and turned to go in my cabin.

"Hey Chloe", Nic said, causing me to turn around and stare at him oddly.

"Yes?" I asked, making sure my confused look was clear.

He stepped on the porch and put his hands on my shoulders. I cocked my eyebrow. He just smiled.

"Don't be worried about Olympus", he said, probably having sensed my fear earlier, "I'm sure it will be fine."

"Thanks Nic. I'll hold you to that", I smiled at him, then eyed his hands. He gave my shoulders a reassuring squeeze before letting him arms fall.

"Night, Chloe", he said, turning around to walk to his cabin.

"Sleep tight, Nic", I said as I stepped into my cabin.

I closed the door and turned around to see all my siblings staring at me.

"Hey, guys. I have to pack for my quest tomorrow", I still couldn't get that fact through my mind, I still felt all giddy when I thought about it, "So, if ya'll would mind moving…"

Everyone moved, but still looked at me. I uneasily made my way to my bunk. I took out my bag and opened my trunk and started to squish everything inside. Katie approached me. I smiled at her and kept squishing.

"Stop", she said. I looked at her questioningly. She walked to her trunk and pulled out another bag, then gave it to me.

"Use this bag", she instructed me," I used it on my last quest. Travis," She blushed when saying his name, they had just started dating **(A/N Big Fan of Tratie!)**,"gave this to me. You can put in a bunch of stuff, but it all fits in and feels really light".

"Oh", I said, not expecting this at all, "Well thanks Kat!"

Katie smiled at my nickname. She was the one who took me in when I first came to camp. My second week she gave me a nickname, and said that when she first came to camp and only one person, Travis in this case, had called her by a nickname, it made her feel special. She nicknamed me "Cleo", which I love. To avoid using Travis' nickname for her, Katie-Kat, I just call her Kat.

"No problem, Cleo", She smiled as she walked back to her bunk. I stopped her real fast.

"Hey Kat, why was everyone staring at me?" I asked, looking around to realize no one was anymore, but still peeking at me. Katie blushed.

"Well, we saw Nic take hold of your shoulders, and we couldn't see behind you, so we didn't know if he.. um.. you know…" she looked at me, hoping I'll get the hint. But I didn't. You see, I'm not the sharpest knife in the Crayola box **(A/N inside joke, sorry!).**

"Nic did what?" I asked.

Katie looked around then whispered to me, "if he kissed you."

My mouth fell open.

"What? No, no, he didn't kiss me!" I looked around to my cabin and yelled so they all could hear me," He did not kiss me! And siblings should not be peeking! Now go to bed, little children."

Everyone turned around and got into bed. I started unpacking and then repacking. I didn't like to leave stuff behind, so this bag was really helpful. When I was done, I changed into my Pajamas, a white, long sleeved shirt, and green short shorts. I collapsed onto my bed, and remember hearing "Lights out" coming from Katie's bed before drifting off.

I woke up early. Darn. A girl needs her beauty sleep! But I knew if I went back to sleep, I would oversleep. So I got up. I grabbed my towel and shower bag, and went to take a shower. I came out, got dressed, and was pretty much ready. But I still had an hour before I was supposed to be at Half-Blood Hill. And when we leave, the camp should be getting up. So hence, I had nothing to do. I am going to be bored out of my mind. I guess a walk is in order. I grabbed my bag, hoping I wouldn't be back, and stepped outside. I breathed in the morning air, something I'm not used to. I'm what people call "Not a morning person". I was deciding where to walk, when I heard the air splitting, an arrow being released. I walked to the shooting range curiously. Once I stepped inside, I saw the one and only, Nicholas Burns. I always laughed at his last name, it fit an Apollo kid so perfectly, just like Travis _Stoll _or Katie _Gardner._

"Well, someone is up awful early", I said just as Nic shot a bulls-eye.

He turned to me and smiled.

"I'm not the only one, Miss Parsons", He said, leaning against a nearby wall.

"Touche"

He chuckled and turned back around to shoot again. And there goes another bulls-eye. Apollo kids. I sighed heavily, either from jealousy at his amazing archery skills, or because I was falling asleep. He looked at me questioningly, so I assumed I wasn't falling asleep.

"What?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"How do I word this?" I sighed as I pretended to think really hard, making a face and putting my pointer finger on my chin. He cracked a smile. "You are amazing at archery and I can barely hit the target", I replied, shrugging.

"Well, maybe your technic is off or something. Here, let me see", He said handing me his bow. I slowly took it and positioned myself.

"Arrow?" I asked, realizing he hadn't given me one.

"Just pull back", he replied, and laughed at my shocked expression as I did and an arrow appeared. I shot. The arrow flew just above the target.

"I am so sorry, Nic! I'll go get the arrow", I quickly said as I tried to hand him his bow back so I could go get it.

"Don't worry, it will come back. But I know what you're doing wrong", he said, pushing the bow back toward me. He told me to get in position, and then he stood behind me, placing his hands on mine. I nervously stood there as he set me up, lowering my arms, moving my foot with his to point at the target, then pulling my hand back, the arrow appearing.

Nic whispered in my ear, "Let go", so I did. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the result. Nic laughed happily, so I opened my eyes. The arrow was lodged in the middle of the target.

"Bulls-eye!" I exclaimed happily, turning around to hug Nic.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I jumped up and down in joy.

Nic laughed again, looking at his watch and saying "Your Welcome". Once he read the time, his eyes went wide.

"We're gonna be late!" he practically screamed. Picking up his and my bag, throwing them over his shoulder, and grabbing my hand all in 5 seconds, he sprinted out of the shooting range, dragging me close behind. We ran to the hill to find Meghan sitting against Thalia's tree.

"Ready?" She asked, standing up and brushing herself off.

"Yep", I replied, popping the "p".

Nic let go of my hand, but didn't give me my bag back. I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Can I not be a gentleman?" He asked, acting offended.

"No", I said, but still ran down the hill to the car, without my bag. Olympus, here I come.


	4. Chapter 4

Nic's POV

I laughed as Chloe ran down the hill, without her bag. Meg smiled too and began walking down. I was about to follow, when I heard a yell.

"Ollie! Ollie! Wait!" I smiled at the nickname, knowing exactly who was running towards me. I turned around to see my little sister Sofey trying as hard as she could to get my attention. She finally made it up the hill and ran into my arms. I hugged her tightly.

"I'll miss you a lot, Ollie", she told me, sounding like she was going to cry, but holding it back.

"I'll be fine, Sofey-girl. Just practice your archery and keep your ears clean", I smiled as she started laughing, then let some tears go.

"I'll be back before you know it, I promise", I told her, in an attempt to stop her crying. She wiped her tears but it was no use, they were coming down now.

"I'll miss you", she whispered. I wiped some of the tears away with my thumb. I enveloped her in another hug.

"I'll miss you more. Bye Sof", I gave her a weak smile, and made my decent down the hill. My mind was far away, thinking how happy Sofey would be when I got back.

"A little sister, I presume", I heard someone say. I looked up and saw Meg looking up the hill at the fading silhouette of my favorite sister.

"Yup", I sighed.

"And she calls you... Ollie?" Meg said trying to hold in her laughter. Honestly, I was, too. The nickname was always a little crack-up.

"Yeah", I said, trying to hide my blush," My middle name is Olliver. So, Sofey just started calling me..."

"Ollie", Meg finished, smiling. Wow, she had an amazing smile. I stared at her for a while, just looking at all her features. Her light brown hair fell around her shoulders perfectly, but there were those few strands that fell in her face. I was tempted to push them aside. Her sky blue eyes were... Dazzling. She smiled back at me, before we heard shouts from the top of the hill. We looked up.

Standing at the top of the hill stood a rather large group of girls. They were all yelling and waving. I couldn't hear what they were saying, too many of them were shouting.

"What are they saying?" I asked Meg, but when I looked at her she looked uncomfortable.

"They are saying 'We'll miss you, Nicky'", she replied, her face looking beat red, "I guess you have a bit of a fan club."

She awkwardly stood there, knowing some of the girls were glaring at her. When I looked at them they would wave sweetly and continue shouting stuff like, "Iris-Message me if you feel lonely!" and "Come back safe, baby". I was getting a little scared.

I knew I was popular with the girls. I had practically been a heartthrob since second grade, when four girls got in an argument over who's boyfriend I was. When I got in to fifth grade, it was the coolest thing to be the popular boy and date pretty girls. Then in seventh grade, it got old. Of course I had dated girls and stuff, but it was always just flings. I did a little wave, to which the girls went crazy, and got in the car.

I sat in the passenger seat. I turned around to only see Chloe, laughing at the girls. Chloe was just something else. I was about to ask Argus where Meg was, when I noticed Meg was in the drivers seat, not Argus.

"You can drive?" I asked, a little shocked. Meg laughed.

"Nic, I am way older than you could ever imagine", she smirked, but I could see in her eyes she had a big secret that went along with that sentence. But I didn't dwell on it. We set off.

~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,

I knocked my head against the dashboard, again. It was 7:30 am in New York City. And we were caught in traffic. Traffic! And in addition to this, my ADHD wasn't helping my boredom.

"Stop that!" Meg said/yelled at me, looking extremely frustrated.

"I have ADHD!" I said in defense, before realizing how absolutely weak my defense was.

"And I don't?", Meghan nearly screeched," you are NOT the only demigod in this car, look we are all on edge here..."

I kinda drowned her out then as she ranted on about how ADHD was no excuse to act like a child. I looked back at Chloe, realizing she hadn't talked. She was holding an I-pod touch in her hand, earbuds in, and had her head leaning against the window, fast asleep. Go figure. I looked forward and groaned.

"I can see the Empire State Building! This is ridiculous!" I exclaimed, earning a death glare from Meg. I shut up.

After twenty minutes, we finally made it. But we had to park 5 blocks away. Yay.

Once Meg parked, I carefully opened the back door, trying not to make Chloe fall out. Shocked at the movement, Chloe opened her eyes. She saw Meg and I standing there, and blushed.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep", she said sheepishly, unbuckling her seatbelt and getting out of the car. I shut the door behind her. We starts walking in silence. About three blocks from the Empire State Building, Chloe started talking.

"So, did anything happen while I was asleep?" she asked. It was a weak conversation starter, but I could tell she just didn't like the silence.

"Well, Nic here apparently can't take a 45 minute car ride without acting like a little kid", Meg said, smirking at me.

"Interesting, very interesting", Chloe sighed as she also yawned, "I'm really tired."

"I guessed", I told her. She rolled her eyes. We continued, once again in silence. Chloe kept yawning, and at one point we stopped because her foot fell asleep. Then we finally made it. We walked up to the front desk. I had only heard stories about how difficult the guards there could be, so I imagined this would be interesting.

"We request an audience with Zeus on the 600th floor, please", Meg told the desk guard. The guard sighed.

"No such thing as Zeus, kid, or a 600th floor. Get lost before I call security", the guard told us in a less-then-happy voice. Chloe let out an exasperated sigh and stomped up to the desk. I take it she has heard stories, too. She crossed her arms on the front of the desk and spotted a small potted plant sitting near the phone. She smiled evilly at the guard.

"Listen up, 'cause I'm only saying this once", Chloe said to the guard, then starting twirling her finger in midair. As she did this, the little stem in the pot began to grow, the more she twirled her finger, the further it grew.

"You may not be aware of this, but Zeus' daughter is missing. We were sent to save her. Now how do you think Zeus would feel if he was told his child could not be saved because a mortal wouldn't let us up?"

The plant was growing dangerously long, it was so long that it started wrapping around the guard's arm. He was staring at it in fright. Chloe was just smiling, continuing to twirl her finger.

"Y-y-y-yes, m-ma'am", the guard replied shakily. He very slowly moved the arm that didn't have the plant on it, and picked up a key card. He, once again very slowly, handed Chloe the key card, who grabbed it out of his hand.

"Thank you very much, sir. Have a great day!" Chloe said cheerfully, and twirling her finger in the opposite direction it was twirling before. The plant started to wind back to the pot until it looked exactly like it did. We walked to the elevator. The guard still looked shaken. We all got in and slid in the key card.

"Well that was rather impressive", I told Chloe. She smiled.

"Yeah", she replied,"I'm kinda impressed, too. I had no idea I could do that. But I am just really not in the mood for people playing dumb right now."

From there we rode up in silence, listening to some 80s' music. I smiled. My grandparents loved 80s' music. When I lived with them, they would listen to it during meal times. And even though I had acted like I hated it, I secretly liked it. Just a guilty pleasure.

We finally made it to the 600th floor. Once the doors opened, we all gasped.

Olympus was beautiful. It had been just last summer it had been completely destroyed because of the Titan War. Now, thanks to the missing Annabeth, Olympus was completely rebuilt. And it looked great. Everything was shining new. We made our way to the throne room, not knowing where else to go. When we got to the throne room, no one was there. We looked at each other.

"What do we do?" I asked, talking without thinking. Meg sighed.

"We call for them", she said easily.

"How?" Chloe asked, looking at Meg, biting her lower lip nervously. Meg's eyes turned grey, but just as quickly turned blue again, she smiled.

"Sit on thier thrones", she said simply. Chloe and I gawked at her. Sit on thier thrones? That is practically forbidden.

"Ok, which god to we call first?" Meg said, looking at us expectedly.

"I say Poseidon", Chloe said", from what I heard he's a lot nicer than Zeus."

"Okay, go call him", Meg told her.

"What?" Chloe shouted, taking a step back.

"Well, he is your uncle", I said," Demeter is Zeus, Hades, Hera, and Poseidon's sister, isn't she?" Meg rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Nic", she sighed. I looked at Chloe in satisfaction.

"Fine", Chloe said, jerking her chin up in the air with dignity.

She went to Poseidon's throne. She looked at us, Meg smiled at her and I gave her a thumbs up. She chuckled then slowly climbed onto the throne. She waited a moment before I saw her flinch badly.

"I'm sorry for sitting in your throne, uncle, but I need you help. It's about Percy", I heard her say, with a scared look on her face. Since I couldn't hear a voice, I assumed Poseidon had yelled at her in her head. That's how they were communicating. Her face slowly untwisted and she smiled.

"Thank you, Lord Poseidon. I will see you soon", she says, then steps down, light smoke rolling of her arms.

"What did he say?" I asked her as she reached us.

"Well first he yelled at me", she sighed, then smiled, "But when I said something about Percy, he said he was on his way."

"Well done, Chloe", Meg complemented her. Chloe blushed.

"Thanks."

Before we could say anything else, a strong breeze blew open the throne room's doors. The breeze passed by us, and I could practically smell the ocean. As we watched, the breeze flew above a sea green throne that was decorated with seashells, seaweed, and other sea stuff. Then the breeze became solid and took the shape of a 20 foot human. Poseidon was sitting right in front if us. Meg immediatley bows. Chloe and I follow suit.

"Lord Poseidon, it is an honor to be in your presence", Meg says, and I nod my head.

"Yes, thank you", Poseidon replies, but has a frown on his face, "I was told by my niece that this meeting has to do with Percy. Have you found him?" Chloe steps forward.

"No, uncle, I'm sorry. But this is about finding him. But we need to talk to Zeus, too. Is there anyway you could..." she didn't finish, trying to think of the right word.

"Call him?" I said simply.

"Aw, that I can do", Poseidon smiled, but still looked sad. He looked up to the sky. "ZEUS!" he yelled. Being that he was 20 feet, it sounded a lot worse. We covered our ears. "ZEUS, COME HERE! IT IS ABOUT THALIA'S DISAPPEARANCE!"

Almost immediately the smell of ozone entered the room, and a giant clash of lightening came in. We all closed our eyes and used our hands to shield them. When we opened them, Zeus was sitting in his throne. I saw Poseidon roll his eyes at his brother.

"Have you found Thalia?" Zeus asked in an angry voice. He didn't look happy.

"No, sir", I told him, since neither of the girls talked," but we would like to ask both of you a question that will help us to find Thalia and Percy."

"Anything to help", Poseidon said with another strained smile.

"Yes, agreed", Zeus said after him, leaning forward in his seat to look closer at us.

"Well", started Chloe, but she looked a little uncertain. We really didn't think this through. "The prophecy says..."

"We are aware of what the prophecy says", Poseidon snaps, but immediately smiles at us apologetically," Please, just get to the point and we will ask questions."

Chloe nods and continues.

"Because of the prophecy, we believe that the three demigods missing are hidden in 'each others' domain'", Chloe quoted, making air quote marks with her fingers. The two gods nodded, seeming eager for her to continue. I was really impressed with how well she was holding herself. Must have to do with her confident mother. "We were thinking about it, and since Zeus' domain, and therefore Thalia's too, is the sky. But whoever took them isn't really dumb enough to hide them on Olympus."

"Yes", Zeus says, rubbing his chin, "I believe I would have sensed her presence if she was here."

Chloe smiled with pride, since she had thought of it. She was just standing there, sulking in her pride, nit goin on about the rest of it. I nudged her, and twirled my hand, symbolizing to go on. Her face lit up in realization and she took another breath to continue.

"Oh ya, and... Uh... Ya. Also, Poseidon", she said, getting the sea god's attention, "In addition to Zeus' thing, we have no idea where we would look in the sea. I mean, it does cover 2/3 of the earth."

I saw Poseidon's chest puff out in pride of this fact.

"So, in conclusion", Chloe sighed, like she had just read a 10 page paper out loud, "We were thinking maybe the two of you would have, uhm, secret places somewhere, where two of the missing demigods might be hidden."

Chloe looked down, like she expected them to get mad at this light accusation. Poseidon sighed, sitting back in his throne. He looked at Zeus.

"Well brother, as i've heard humans say, 'The gig is up'. Shall I tell first or you?"

"Wait, wait, wait", Chloe said, looking at them and putting her hands up in a 'hold on' motion. Her nose scrunched up in confusion. "So, I was right? I mean, I AM right?"

Zeus looked at his brother angrily.

"We can't tell them! They are mortals! They can't know! My wife doesn't even know!"

"Nor does mine", Poseidon replied back, looking intently at his brother, "But this is for our children, brother. We must help them or we may never see our children again. And brother, I honestly would like my son back."

"As I would with my daughter, but this is a big secret to trust with demigods. Especially a child of Apollo. If Apollo himself can't keep secrets, what hope do his children have?"

I felt really insulted. This may be my grandpa, but he wasn't going to insult menor my dad.

"Excuse me, sir", I said, in a annoyed tone I knew I should not be using with the king of the gods, "But I can keep a secret as well as the next person. And your daughter's, or you brother's son's lives could be at stake here. Should it matter if we can't keep a secret, it matters that we find your daughter and eg her back safe. Now you can tell us about your 'secret place' or we can leave!" I finished, out of breath from my rampage.

Zeus just stared at with an open mouth. Along with everyone else there. I looked at Meg and Chloe, and saw Meg looking at Zeus, hoping he wouldn't zap her for my behavor. She then looked at me, her blue eyes pleading. "Apologize!" they screamed, but I don't plan on doing that. I looked to Zeus again. He was nodding.

"I am sorry Nicholas", he said, but didn't really look sorry, "I will trust you. I do indeed have a 'secret place'", he sighed, looking at Chloe approvingly, making her blush and smile.

"Being that I am the Lord of the Sky, I picked a place relative to my title. My secret place is the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where most rockets enter the sky", Zeus said, trying to look proud, but still seemed angry that he was telling us. Poseidon smiled.

"Was that so hard?" He mocked his brother. I remembered how I looked forward to my new brother and I fighting, before... well, that is a story that shouldn't be told now.

"Oh brother", Zeus sighed, annoyed. I couldn't tell if he was addressing his brother or saying it in annoyance, "I have gone, Poseidon. I believe they need the address to your secret castle as well."

"Gladly", replied Poseidon, smiling, then remembered the situation and frowned again, "I have a small castle built in the middle of the Key West Islands in Florida. I will make sure to give you a map at the end of this meeting."

We nodded and stared at the gods. Again, we really didn't think this through. I looked at the girls. Chloe was biting her bottom lip and picking lint of her Miami Heat sweatshirt. She must live in Florida. When I looked at Meg, her eyes were grey and they were in tendon staring at her mother's throne. Then she smiled and looked back to the brothers.

"Will we be expecting anyone to stop us at any of these two places?" she asked the gods. Hmm, its good she's smart, 'cause I would have never thought of that.

"No", Poseidon said, "I only send staff a couple days in advance of my arrival." He looked at Zeus.

"No mortals are there, but I have manipulated the mist so that the mortals at the space center don't see the entrance to my place in a disabled rocket. The rocket is 'The Olympus'. To get in you must type in the code..."

Zeus turned red and didn't finish. I never thought I would see the king of the gods blush. He cleared his throat and opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again.

"Well, you must understand, that when made this place, I was, uhm... Uh... with someone."

"With who, sir?" I would have never said that in fear of death by lightning, but luckily Chloe didn't think about that. Zeus was still blushing. He put his hand on his forehead and closed his eyes, leaning back, like he was trying to relax. He mumbled something that wasn't audible.

"What was that, sir?" I asked, taking a step closer to see if I could hear him. He mumbled something again. Before I could ask again, Poseidon burst.

"BROTHER! THESE DEMIGODS ARE TRYING TO SAVE OUR CHILDREN! TELL THEM THE CODE OR I SHALL TELL HERA OF YOUR SECRET PLACE! TRUST ME I WILL, ZEUS!" Poseidon was now standing over Zeus, who was slightly cringing at his older brother.

Once Poseidon had finished, Zeus sat up and commanded Poseidon back to his throne. He went. Zeus rolled his neck. He looked at me calmly.

"Son of Apollo, what I said was I was with Leto, your grandmother", he said. I never did think about it, but I guess Leto was my gramma. Hmm.

"So the code to enter the spaceship will be Leto?" Meg asked kindly. She launched into a series of other questions for Zeus and Poseidon, stuff about 'is there anything we should expect' and 'is it guarded' and stuff like that. When she was done, she stepped back.

"If that is all children, you must be on your way", Poseidon said kindly, giving us another pained smile. We nodded and started to walk out. Then Zeus stopped us.

"Um, children", he called, causing us to turn around, "Being that you are saving my child, I grant you access to the skies. I will flash you to a nearby airport now. Good luck, children, and thank you."

He opened his hands and a bright light came from them. The last thing I remember was covering my eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

Meg's POV

I opened my eyes when the blinding light died. We were at an airport, and we were sitting down in those connected-airport- chairs. I looked at Chloe and Nic, who were sitting next to me. They were also looking around. I was going to tap Nic on the shoulder to ask him where we were, but I felt something in my hand. I looked down to see a plane ticket.

"We're flying?" Chloe said, having also discovered her ticket. "I've never flown before." I looked at the ticket.

"We have to be on the flight to Key West Florida, platform 38 in... 45 minutes", I said as I looked at the clock. Chloe and I stood up, but Nic stayed seated.

"What's wrong, Nic?" I asked as I sat back down and put my hand on his shoulder. He was really warm, and I felt really comfortable knowing he was there. He looked at me with his beautiful amber eyes. I tried not to blush.

"Was it just me, or was Zeus, like, over-nice?" he said to me, then moved his confused look to Chloe, who shrugged.

"Idk, man. I've never met the guy before then", Chloe replied to him. Nic looked down, deep in thought. I squeezed his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. He's... probably, um, worried about Thalia, that's all", I reassured honestly, I had to agree with him. Over my many years in the hunt, I have seen Zeus many times, and he had never seemed so nice. He barely yelled or threatened the whole time we were there. And I got the feeling there was another reason Zeus was hesitant about telling us his code. We started walking to our platform.

"Wait, guys!" Chloe practically yelled, earning a few stares. Nic and I looked at her. She was pointing to the restrooms. "I gotta pee!" she handed me her plane ticket then ran into the women's room.

"Yeah, I'll he right back", Nic added as he gave me his ticket and walked into the Men's room. Great, now I'm alone.

I saw seats out of the corner of my eye. I turned on my heel... and ran into a guy. I fell back onto the floor, and so did the guy. All I could do was sit there in shock. The guy jumped up and offered me his hand. I took he lifted me up, I noticed his features. He had short, dirty blonde hair that was spiked up in the front, super tan skin, piercing light brown eyes, and a rather cocky smile. Artemis would kill me for thinking this, but he was HOT! I could even see well defined abs under his muscle shirt.

"Thanks", I told him, and then looked at my hand, which he handed let go of.

"The pleasure is all mine", he replied, taking his hand back, "I'm Nate." He held his hand out again.

"I'm Meg", I told him, shaking his hand. But again, he held on longer than necessary.

"A beautiful name for a beautiful face", he said, then kissed my hand before letting go. I stared at him. I think he took it wrong. He kept going.

"So where you heading? Maybe we're on the same flight. We could switch seats and sit next to each other", he said as he took a step closer to me.

"I'm going Key West, Florida", I said, praying to every god I knew that he wouldn't say 'Me Too!'

"Ah darn", he said as he took a step closer, and lightly ran his hand along my arm, "I'm heading to Texas with my mates", he motioned to his two friends behind him, "But hey, we should chill sometime. I'll give you my number.

"His hand started to reach for the back pocket of my jeans. I realized I wasn't wearing my hunter uniform like I was on Olympus. Zeus must have given me new clothes so I wouldn't stand out. I stepped back.

"What are you doing?" I asked suspiciously, and he again advanced, but this time his hand found my back pocket, while his other hand snaked around my waist. I didn't like this guy anymore.

"Looking for your phone, but I can't find it. Do I have to kiss the truth out of you?" he said suggestively, and leaned in I could answer, his body was ripped away from mine, thank gods, and was on the floor.

"Don't touch her!" I heard Nic yell at Nate. Didn't he get here right in time. He looked at me, dismissing Nate, who shakily got his tickets off the ground, and ran, with his wimpy friends running behind him.

"Are you ok?" Nic asked me with concern in his eyes, putting his hand on my shoulder. I nod and smile.

"Thanks. He was getting really annoying", I said, looking down to hide my blush. His hand was really warm on my shoulder, and his touch was so... Comforting, just like before. When his hand slid off, my blush left and I looked up. But I was only met by something that made me blush even more. His eyes.

"Your sure you're ok?" he said sincerely. I nodded. "Cuz I know a charm that when he hits on a girl, his face looks like the girl's father. He'd be screwed."

I laughed at that. He smiled and chuckled, too. I like the fact he wants to comfort me. I like how his eyes searched mine slightly, wanting to know if I was really ok. I like him. This isn't good.

"Let's rock, chicos!" came Chloe's yell. We both turned toward her voice and saw her shoving past a group of girls staring at Nic. My jealousy flared. Wait, no jealousy here. Chloe reached us.

"Where are the tickets?" she asked, her eyebrows crinkled as she looked at my empty hands. I looked to the ground. They were scattered, I must have dropped them from the fall. I scooped them up.

"Shall we go?" Nic said as she offered both me and Chloe an arm. I took mine and Chloe took hers.

"We shall", I laughed as we started walking. Chloe started telling jokes and Nic joined in. I just laughed and listened. I was having the most fun time I have ever had.

"Where are we?" Chloe asked abruptly. We stopped at realized we had passed all the platforms and where now in the middle of little stores.

"Oh shiz", She said, looking around and seeing and airport guard. She grabbed the tickets from my hand and went to talk to the guard. We watched as he looked at one, then gave her directions. She nodded and walked back, giving me the tickets and taking Nic's offered arm again.

"Left, Right, Left, 3 platforms down", she told us, and we walked that way, continuing our joke-telling. When we got there the last people were boarding the plane. We practically ran on and found our seats. I smiled. Zeus had given us first-class seats. I had the window seat and Nic sat next to me. Chloe was across from us, sitting next to a sleeping, Chinese businessman. She popped in her earphones and within 2 minutes was asleep. I tried to follow her example, but I couldn't get comfortable. I kept on wriggling and twisting, trying to find a good position. It wasn't working.

"You can use my shoulder, Meg", Nic whispered in my ear. His hot breath made me shiver. I looked at him and saw he had on a slight smile. He had obviously been watching me, and found my discomfort funny. I imagined how I probably had looked at smiled, too. I guess it was funny. He patted his shoulder, and I slowly leaned my head against his shoulder. I felt the comforting feeling again as my cheek hit his warm shoulder. He absently brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear, then blushed and looked at the screen giving instructions on how to exit the plane. All I remember is slipping my hand in his, and him squeezing it reassuringly, but not letting go.

~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,

I felt myself being shaken, but I refused to wake up. Soon I heard a soft voice saying my name. It was Nic. His voice only made me want to fall back asleep. But then I heard a different voice.

"It's not working! Let me handle this", I heard Chloe whisper-yell. All the sudden I felt a thin... line? I don't know, something thin creep up my leg, then my stomach, then my arm, and it seemed like it was angling toward my mouth... I bolted up to tear a thin vine away from my face. I looked at Chloe, who was pulling the plant back to a super small pot, until it was just a little flower, then she replaced it in her bag.

"I win", she says to Nic with a smirk. Nic looks at me and smiles. I can't help but smile back. Then he seemed to remember something and shook his head.

"What?"

Chloe looked at Nic, silently telling him to tell me what was wrong. She won that, of course. Demeter kids are like their mother, they don't settle for anything if it's not their way. Nic looked at me.

"We aren't on a flight to Florida. This plane is landing in Amarillo, Texas."

~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,

"Maybe the guard gave me wrong directions", Chloe offered. We had landed in Texas, and were trying to figure out a plan. And find out how we ended up here.

"That could be true, but why would he do that?" Nic asked. He looked at me. More specifically, my eyes, grey eyes, no doubt. I knew I had done something, I had been holding the tickets. But what had I done? I retraced my steps, then it hit me.

"Nate was heading to Texas!" I said triumphantly. Nic stared at me before guessing who Nate was. His eyes darkened. Chloe stared at me, confused.

"When I fell, the tickets fell out of my hand. When he ran away, he must have grabbed our tickets and I grabbed his. Nate landed in Key West. We landed at his destination", I said, but then realized our situation.

"What do we do?" Chloe asked the obvious. I had been thinking about that. Are we just going to get a flight to Florida? I don't know how much money we had combined, but what else could we do? There us nothing we could do in Texas... Wait, yes there was! I jumped up from my seat and started walking. Nic and Chloe followed.

"We are in Texas!" I exclaimed.

"Yep, we have established that", Chloe said with a confused face.

"One of our destinations is Texas! The Johnson Center is Zeus' spot!" Nic said with a smile. I felt like I could kiss him, and yes, that is pretty wrong, but I dont think I'd mind... No, no, no, I'm a hunter!

"So we just head to Houston", I said.

"I guess we'll need a taxi", Chloe sighed. She started walking to the exit of the airport. She hailed a taxi and opened the door.

"Chloe", I said uncertainly, "I don't think we have enough money to make it to Houston."

"Relax, I got dis", Chloe slanged. Nic and I hesitantly got inside, and Chloe took the passenger seat.

"Houston, quick as you can, taximan", Chloe happily rhymed as the cabbie rolled his eyes and set off.

~.~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,,~,~,

I was looking worriedly at the meter. The price for this ride was getting dangerously high. We stopped in front of the Johnson Center. The cabbie looked at the meter, then at Chloe expectantly. She smiled.

"Could you just put it on Dr. Parsons of Orlando, Florida's tab?" The cabbie's face lit up in shock.

"As in James Parsons, the famous doctor?" Chloe smiled and nodded. The cabbie also nodded and waved us out, saying he'd take care of it. He pulled away, and we were left, me with many questions for Chloe. We started walking into the space center. Before I could say anything to Chloe, Nic beat me to it.

"So what is your relation with Dr. Parsons?" he asked, looking genuinely curious. All I wanted to know was why she was using his money.

"He's my daddy", Chloe said with a faraway look and a smile. Nic looked shocked, just like the cabbie.

"The famous Dr. James Parsons is your father?" he asked, looking excited. I didn't get why this Dr. Parsons was so famous.

"No offense Chloe, but who is Dr. Parsons?" I asked. Nic looked me like I was crazy. I smiled sheepishly.

"It's alright", Chloe said, smiling understandingly, "I get that. My dad, Dr. Parsons, discovered the cure for cancer 3 years ago. Kinda made a name for himself."

"Dr. Parsons is extremely popular with us Apollo kids", Nic said, explaining why he had known who he was. I nodded. Then he directed his attention to Chloe excitedly. "I can't believe he's your father! That is the coolest thing. And our research shows you dad used mostly herbs in the solution. That must have been why Demeter was attracted to him."

Chloe gave him a forced smile, but he didn't notice because of his glee. I had a feeling her mother was a touchy subject, like it was for most demigods. I had always been a favorite, per say, of my mother's. We stopped once we entered the looked so... Technical. Being a daughter of Athena, I was able to figure out what everything was doing. As I examined all the wires and gadgets, I saw Nic looking at a map out if the corner of my eyes, and Chloe looking around trying to find something she could make sense of. I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I jumped, not expecting it. I lost my balance.

"AWWW!" I closed my eyes waiting for the pain, but instead I felt two strong arms wrap around my waist and fall behind me. I hear a groan of pain and look behind me. Nic broke my fall.

"Oh, Nic I am so sorry!" I exclaimed and I tried to roll off him to help. But his arms were still wrapped around my waist. I blushed, noticing Chloe staring at us I had gotten out of Nic's grip and helped him up, I gave him a hug. It's the least I could do, really. But he again wrapped his arms around my waist and returned my hug. I felt like I fit right here. In his arms. Cliche, I know. I pointed us in the direction of all the spaceships. But when we got there, we had no idea where to look for 'The Olympus'.

"We could ask someone", Chloe said, looking around.

"Nope", I said, "Zeus said he manipulated the mist so that the mortals couldn't see the rocket.""Oh ya", Chloe said, disappointed. Luckily, Nic tapped my shoulder and pointed to a golden rocket with "OLYMPUS" written on the side in white letters. I smiled.

"Got ya."

We started to walk toward it. I looked around, expecting someone to stop us, but no one did. We got stopped at the door. A keypad was stuck on the door. I stepped forward, ready to type in the code.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you", a voice said behind me. I stopped and slowly turned around. A dracanae was standing 10 feet away from us, a sword pointing at us threateningly. Behind her was a small army of Lastrogian Giants.

"Oh gods", I heard Chloe whisper.

"One of us will go in and get whoever's in there, the other two will fight", Nic whispered urgently, "Who's going in?"

"I will", I said when neither of the other two said a word.

"Ok, Chloe, on three charge, Meg, type in the code and get in and out quickly."

"Got it", Chloe and I said in unison.

"K, one..."

"Stop whispering demigods", the dracaena hissed, taking a step toward us.

"Two…"

"Fight and die or leave, pick one, children", the dracanae took another step.

"Three!"I immediately turned around and punched in the code, L-E-T-O. The hatch clicked open and started to go down I moved out of the way and checked on the other had jumped on top of one of the center's SUVs and was shooting arrows at lightning speed. Chloe had a shield with a torch on it, a symbol of Demeter, and a sword. She was fighting well, keeping up with all the giants that came at her. The door hit the ground. I ran in.

Floating in the center of the room was a ball of green energy, that almost looked like grass. I couldn't see inside it. I poked it, and it felt... Squishy. I smiled. I took out my sword, and before using it, admired the artwork, like I do every time I see my sword. It was very special to me.

I held the sword in front of me, then lifted it up and sliced at the orb. Light came out if the rip. Something was definatley in there. I smiled, and unleashed all my training. I haven't used my sword in so long, it felt good to swing it around again.

'Slash, jab, block, twist, slash, jab, block, hit' were all the words in my mind. Nothing mattered except the sword. Eventually there was nothing left to in the air in white clothing, was a sleeping Nico di Angelo. His arms were by his side, and his head was pointed down, like he was staring at the ground. What do I do? Wake him up? Hmm, that I poked him with my finger, which didn't work. Since I didn't have a lot of time, I picked him up and put him in a nearby chair.

"Nico, wake up! We need to get outta here!" I pleaded. He stirred. His head started moving, then his fingers clenched and in clenched. Eventually, his eyes opened. They slowly took in his surroundings. Then his gaze laid on me.

"Where am I?" I sighed, having expected this question. I even already came up with an answer.

"I can't tell you now", I said as I pulled him up and toward the door. He sensed the urgent tone in my voice, so he didn't argue and followed. "Someone kidnapped you, and we were sent to rescue you. We need to get out of here as soon as possible."

"We?" Nico asked. We stepped outside. He analyzed our situation.

"We", I said again. I immediately summoned my bow and arrow and started to shoot some giants. I saw Nico look around wildly before he pulled a sword out of the ground and plunged into battle. I shot down another giant, and caught Nic's eye. He smiled, then pulled on a scared face.

"Meg, behind you!" I turned around to see a giant running at me. I pulled out my sword and stabbed it. I laughed, again feeling the rush of finally using my sword again. Eventually there were no monsters left. I saw Nic getting off the car, and Chloe pressing a button on her shield, and it turning into a clip she slid into her hair. I hadn't noticed that clip, but now I realized she always had had that clip in. Nico's white clothes were smeared with blood and golden dust.

"Got 'em", Chloe sighed, but had a smile in her face. She noticed Nico standing near me.

"Nico!" she ran to him and jumped in his arms. He smiled and hugged her back.

"Don't get too happy, demigods.

"We all turned around, but the dracanae was behind me. I turned around to a sword pointed at my neck. I stopped dead.

"If anyone moves, I kill the girl", she yelled to the other three. They didn't move, just stared at her and waited to hear what she wanted. The dracanae looked at me and smiled, or as much as a monster could.

"Now, the child is Hades was not supposed to leave", she pointed to Nico, who was trying as hard he could not to lunge at her, "And if my master comes back and he is gone, I will be in big trouble. So I demand that the son of Hades gets back into the rocket, and the other demigods leave. I will give my master this girl to deal with.""I'm not going anywhere without her", Nic growled, taking a step toward us.

"Nic, don't", I sputtered as the sword was pressed deeper into my neck. He stopped.

"Get in the rocket", the dracanae laughed, knowing she had won. I saw Chloe pull a small dagger out of her bag. I have the distract the monster.

"Can you please pull your sword back a little?" I asked, "I can barely breath."

I saw Chloe lining up her throw.

"Get into the rocket then I might consid... AWWW!" she screamed as the dagger pierced her back. She exploded into monster dust.

"We need to get out of here, now", I said, breaking the silence. There were murmurs of agreement from the others. Nico and Chloe started for the exit, I heard Nico asking about our quest. I walked up to Nic and grabbed his shoulders. I shook him to snap him out if his daze.

"Nic, we have to go." He looked into my eyes. I felt like I could melt.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes, Nic, I'm fine", I promised him. He nodded and slowly placed his arm around my waist.

"What are you doing?" I said, half-heartedly trying to pull away from him. He pulled me closer.

"I need to know your ok", he whispered. I just nodded and leaned into him.

I saw Nico manipulate the mist and convince someone to let us have one of the SUVs. Nic got in the drivers seat, while I happily took the passengers. Then I fell into a much-needed sleep.

**If anyone really knows a Dr. James Parsons, I don't. I just made up this name, and nothing was intended or anything. And I hope no one is offended that I made him discover the cure for cancer, but I needed something! And trust me, I do understand it's a serious thing and I do not mean it as a joke. Thanks! I hope to update soon!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I am so incredibly sorry! I know you probably don't want an excuse, and that's good, cuz mine isn't really that good. With school, and summer, and family, I just lost track of time, so thank you, my faithful readers! Now please, read on! I wrote a lot, so I hope it satisfies. In ths chapter you get a lot of info about Chloe, who I based off myself ( ). Enjoy!**

Chapter 6:

Chloe's POV

*Dream*

The first thing I saw was a guy. A very hot guy. He was about my age, 14, and he was wearing jeans, a white shirt, which was under a Greek leather breastplate. He was walking… to nowhere. Everything was black. Then a dimly-lit cave began to take shape.

The boy reached a wooden door. I heard him inhale a deep breath, then pull on the handle. The door swung open. I followed the boy inside. He walked into a dark chamber and bowed before a throne, though no one was sitting in it.

"I bow to thee, Lord Hyperion, Lord of light, and Titan of the east", the boy said. Then a blazing light filled the chamber. I averted my eyes, and then looked back at the throne. Now, the chamber was lit with fire, and much brighter. Now I could see the boy's super tan skin and honey-blonde hair. He looked all the more hot now.

On the throne sat a 20 foot man, wearing armor that looked like it was on fire. The man's hair looked orange and red, like fire. The man had an aura of power surrounding him, and he had a scowl on his face as he looked at the boy, like he should be doing something more important.

"Stand", he, who I'm guessing is Hyperion, based on the boy's summoning, said. The boy stood.

"What do you want?"

"Father, I need to ask some questions", the boy said, not looking the least bit intimidated by the Titan. The Titan that is apparently the father to Mr. Hot Guy over there. I continued watching; almost sure I was not seen here.

"What, son?" Hyperion asked in regal but rather bored voice.

"Who exactly are we supporting? I have been running around with troupes of monsters for this person, and it seems like they have another target they are trying to invade other places than Camp Half-Blood. Like there are other people they are trying to kill. I would also like to bring up what happenned to Kronos. Maybe we should just lay low, and just NOT support anyone", the boy finished. His words sounded urgent, but his voice was regal and slow, like his dad's.

Hyperion had an even bigger scowl on his face. He rolled his eyes. He made me think of a teenager who was trying to gamble, but his friend was telling him to stop.

"Son, this is like gambling…"

Wow, hit that bull's eye.

"...if you offer something, you either lose it, or you expand it. Unfortunately, my gamble with Kronos caused me to lose. But the thing with this gamble is that I am almost guaranteed to win."

"But what I need to know is who accepting the bets! This is important, dad!"

"Liam!" Hyperion shouted. The boy, 'Liam', still didn't flinch, but his jaw became set from his anger. "You shall address me as Lord, or even Father, but NOT dad", Hyperion shuddered at the name.

"Father", Liam sighed. Hmm, I liked that name, Liam. "If you don't gamble, you don't lose anything."

"Ah, but you don't win anything either. Now leave me, son, and continue your great work for our patron", Hyperion smiled expectedly at his son, then disappeared in a flurry of flames. Liam sighed.

Then the most unexpected thing happened. Liam turned, and looked at me.

I stared back at him like a deer in the headlights.

"I can see you, don't be scared", he said, looking at me with a supportive smile, "I brought you here."

"Why?" I said firmly, hoping my voice sounded strong. But on the inside I was more scared than the first time I faced a monster. Liam chuckled.

"I need your help, Chloe."

"How do you know my name?" I snapped instantly. He had better not be a creeper. Well, on the bright side, he would be a hot creeper. Liam chuckled again.

"Do you not remember me?" he asked, a hopeful light sparkling in his beautiful topaz eyes. Topaz eyes. Why are they so familiar...?

"Liam Prince", I blurted out, all the memories flying back to me. His face graced with a gorgeous smile.

"Miss me, Lulu?" he even remembered my nickname? The one he gave me all the way back in 1st grade? I smiled. Then a certain memory came back to me. My anger rouse.

"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GO?" I exclaimed. Liam's eyebrow furrowed, but he still had an amused smile on.

"Chloe, I need your help", he looked me straight in the eyes to get his point across. "My dad, Hyperion?" he pointed to the empty throne. I nod in understanding. "He is keeping me here. I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it. I need you to come get me."

I took all this in. If I were Meg, my eyes would be the deepest shade of gray... Wait, Meg! Nic! Nico!

"I have to get outta here!" I exclaimed once again. I ran toward the door, but something wrapped around my waist. Liam.

"You're in a dream, Chloe", He whispered in my ear. His lips were almost touching my ear. And… I kinda liked it. I nodded again.

"So let me see if I got this straight", I said no louder than a whisper, not wanting to ruin the moment, "I have to come save you because you don't like what your dad is doing."

He chuckled.

"Yup." All the sudden the chamber reached a high temperature of about 1000 degrees. I looked at Liam and saw a worried face with beads of sweat running down his forehead. Even though the idea was gross, he still managed to look hot.

"Chloe, you have to go", he said urgently. I nodded. "I'm hiding in Mt. saint Helens. Once you get me I'll tell you all the details."

I couldn't even nod. The room started to evaporate, and the last thing I saw was Liam swiveling around to come face-to-face with Hyperion. A very angry looking Hyperion.

*End dream*

My eyes popped open. I took in my surroundings... Again. It was night. I was sitting in the back of a car. The SUV. I saw Nic in the drivers' seat with Meg asleep in the passenger's seat. Nic had a hold of Meg's hand, and I guessed Meg hadn't given him permission.

I moved a little, and felt fabric under my head. I picked my head up and looked at my pillow. Nico.

He was asleep. His dark brown hair hung over his closed eyes, and he looked so... Peaceful. Even if he is a son of Hades.

Out the window, I saw the car pull into a gas station. The dim lighting reminded me of the lights in the cave... my dream washes over me again.

"LIAM!" I screamed. I had to save him...

Nic slammed on the breaks, earning many honks. Meg snapped awake and looked at me with her bow and arrow held in her hands, just in case. Nico also immediately opened his eyes and tightened his arm around me... had that always been there?

"Who's Liam?" Nic asked urgently. He was looking out the windows, trying to find someone posing a threat.

"I-I-I knew him when I was little", I replied finding it hard to talk, "He disappeared in 6th grade, he was my best friend, my boyfriend..."

Nico's arm tightened around me again. I was pulled closer to him, and I saw Meg raise an eyebrow at me, but I just did my best to shrug and adjust to my new position. I wasn't about to move away if Nico wanted me close. I mean... He is my best friend.

"Continue", Nic prodded.

"I saw him in my dream, and I saw..."

I told them my dreams, not mentioning when Liam had his arm around my waist. Whenever I mentioned Liam, Nico's arm would again squeeze my shoulders. After I told them of the encounter, we were silent. But I needed to know.

"So are we? Are we going to save him?"

Nic and Meg met gazes, and seemed to have a silent discussion. Nic would shake his head, but Meg would then shrug and point at me. In the end, they came to an agreement. They looked back at me, still cuddled into Nico's side.

"We should keep our quest as our top priority", Nic said slowly. Meg looked at him with an open mouth.

"That is NOT what we agreed on", she snapped. Nic looked back at her, and again they silently argued. I looked up at Nico, who was slowly moving his other arm around my waist. I again didn't say anything, just moved a little to make it easier.

"Chloe", he whispered.

"Yes?" I replied.

"Do you really want to save this Liam guy?" He questioned, trying to keep the distaste out if his voice.

"Well, yeah", I answered back, wondering why he would ask. He nodded.

"Then I'll go with you."

I looked at him, searching for a trace of... Well, anything. I didn't want him to if he really didn't want to. But I had a strange sense he was going for a different reason, not to help save Liam.

"Um, really? You'll go with me?"

He gave me a charming smile. I noticed a long time ago that I was the only one that got that smile.

"I'd go anywhere with you."

I looked down to hide my blush. I can't believe he said that! That was so cute; it just made me blush more...

I felt his fingers lift my head up, so I would look in his eyes. I could feel him starting to lean forward. I slowly did too. I closed my eyes, felt his breath on my face, it smelled like dark chocolate...

"Ok, so we have a plan."

Nico and I jumped apart at Nic's voice, but Nico's arm stayed around my shoulders. I looked to the front of the car to see Nic looking at us oddly and Meg shaking her head, glaring at Nic for ruining the moment.

"Chloe, we'll go get this guy..."

"No, just me and Nico", I interrupted him. He gave me a 'yeah right' look.

"Chloe we shouldn't split up..."

"But", I interrupted again, "It will be faster and easier. Nico and I will go get Liam", shoulder squeeze, "And you and Meg go get whoever is in... where are we going?"

"Florida", replied Meg, who had looked impatient that we weren't doing anything productive, driving wise. Guess it's an Athena kid thing.

"Nic, keep driving", I said. Meg happily sighed. Nic nodded and looked forward to continue driving.

"So", I continued, reaching my conclusion, "You guys will go to Florida, and we will somehow meet you back there with Liam."

"Nico, you do agree to go with her, right?" Nic asked. I guess he had definitely taken over as the leader of this quest, even though I doubt he would admit it.

"Yes, I'll go with Chloe", Nico replied, replacing his other arm around my waist.

"Then we'll need to get you to a train station..." Meg rambled about all the preparations we would need. I zoned out, leaning my head against Nico's chest.

I had a fuzzy feeling in my stomach. I had never felt this way around Nico; he is my best guy friend. But all the sudden it's like I... like him. But I can't.

Nico is one if the hottest guys in camp. He could pick so many better girls.

"Well", my conscious spoke in the back of my mind, "Travis Stoll is one of the hottest guys in camp, and he's dating your sister, Katie."

Too true. So I stayed in my current position.

We pulled into a train station, cuz I don't want to risk my life again in an airplane. I heard the last of what Meg was rambling about.

"... so then save Liam, and get to a train station and ride to Florida where we will meet you..."

"At my dad's house!" I exclaimed. My dad was barely ever home anyway, might as well put the almost mansion to good use.

"At Chloe's house", Meg repeated. Nic parked and we all exited the car. Right before we entered the train station, Meg stopped, causing everyone else to stop.

"What is it?" Nic asked, sounding half- concerned.

"Um, we don't have any money", she said, watching our faces as the information sunk in. we have no way to get there. The only money we have is on reserve for food and gas. My mind was still kinda set on the little conversation I had with myself in the car. Nico was a cute guy… who am I kidding, he's HOT! Even Aphrodite girls were going after him. Then again, what about the whole situation with Katie and Travis…

TRAVIS! The idea popped into my head.

"I got it!" I exclaimed and started to run back to the car. Of course, everyone followed.

When I got to the car, I jumped into the driver's seat, even though I only had my permit. Nic had his license, and Meg somewhat counted, so I'm good.

Everyone climbed in out of breath, and I could tell Nic was going to say something about me driving, but I knew what to look for.

After twenty minutes of driving around… whatever random city this is, I found what I was looking for.

A forest.

"Travis Stoll once tried to get Katie to do this, but she wouldn't cuz she said she might get in trouble. I guess that's what she gets for dating a Stoll, right?" I tried to joke, met back by nervous laughs. I guess they had a reason; they had no idea what we were doing in a creepy forest on the side of the road that we were going quite deep into. After we were out of view of the freeway, I stopped.

"Ok, what are we doing, Chloe?" Nic questioned. I could tell by his tone of voice he was not looking for excuses. I smiled and leaned against a tree.

"Yeah, Chloe, what is going on?" Nico whispered in my ear. Wow, I really love that sensation.

"Well, Travis had a thought that maybe because Katie, and me, were Demeter kids, we could just make paper straight out of the trees. Therefore, if we could, we could manipulate the tree to put ink on it…" I dropped the sentence, hoping someone would pick up on what I was implying. No one did. I put my hand on the tree and, in my head, imagined the tree slicing into thin strips of rectangular paper, with green ink on in, forming a certain president's head…

Once I felt a heavy pile, I opened my eyes, smiled at my creation, and presented the group with a large stack of $100 dollar bills.

"Now, I see what you meant", Meg laughed, stepping forward to examine the newly made money. "It looks and feels very real."

"I guess Travis was right", I sighed, but was secretly celebrating in my head at my amazing feat.

"Alright", Nic said, after he examined the money as well, "Let's get back to the train station. I think it closes at 10, and it's currently 9:30."

We made our way back to the car, where, unfortunately, Nic slipped back into the driver's seat.

We all stepped up to the ticket booth.

"Whatcha need?" A teenager smacking her gum asked us. I looked at the list of train stations. Mt. Saint Helens train station. Perfect.

"Two tickets to Mt. Saint Helen station, please", I told the teen sweetly, only to receive an eye-roll and another smack of gum.

"There's a Mt. Saint Helens train station?" Meg asked, sounding genuine.

"Apparently so", I said, pointing to the list. She squinted at it, but eventually gave up. She looked down like she was ashamed.

"How did you decipher that so fast?" Nic asked curiously, staring intently at the list. "Did your dad also create a solution to dyslexia?"

Oh yeah, other demigods have dyslexia. Ha-ha, suckers. I laughed.

"No, I guess I was just one of the lucky ones. I didn't get dyslexia, but I got the ADHD."

"Can you still read Greek?" Meg wondered aloud.

"Yup", I sighed. I had gotten these questions often.

We got the tickets and entered the station.

"This is where we will leave you", Meg said.

"Ok", I replied, not really knowing what to say.

"I guess we better get going", Nico said awkwardly, not knowing what to do either. After we had gotten some money, we had stopped by a Target to grab Nico some new clothes, since being in a public place with stained and dirty white robes wasn't going to do. In his dark wash jeans and black V-neck shirt, let's just say I totally understood why all the girls at the station were looking at him; and Nic, of course, but Meg wasn't letting them get very far with him.

"Right", I sighed. Before I could turn around and leave, I stepped forward and gave Meg a hug, much to her surprise. She hugged back after a while. I know it's childish, but I had nothing else. I turned to Nic, kind of asking for approval. He smiled and opened his arms.

"Come here."

I smiled and hugged him too.

"Please be careful, Chloe", he whispered in my ear.

"I will, Nic", I promised back. He nodded and let go of me.

Nico also gave Meg a light hug and shook Nic's hand, and even though they didn't say anything, I could see them having a silent conversation before breaking apart. I would definitely be asking about _that_ later.

Nico then proceeded to put his arm around my waist, to many girls disappointment, and steer me toward the correct platform. We boarded and not much later the train took off. Because of our extra money, we were able to get our own cabin. Nico sat down, and I promptly sat next to him and laid my head on his shoulder.

"I missed you, Nico", I said, feeling it was the right time to tell him my true feelings.

"Well, if I had been awake, I'm sure I would have missed you too", he chuckled.

"Do you…", I was very hesitant about asking this specific question, but I might as well ask, I am a curious person. "Do you remember being taken?"

His eyebrows scrunched together and his lips fell apart slightly. This was his thinking face. As I said, we were really close friends, I knew this kind of stuff about him.

"Well", he started, a faraway look in his eyes as he tried to remember, "I remember… I was walking to… the forest. I was going to shadow-travel to… somewhere", he slightly blushed thinking about it, but I didn't push it, "and then, something hit me on the head."

His hand reached to the back of his head, like he was feeling the pain again. I reached my hand up too, and felt a small bump still there. Without thinking about it, I started to rub the little bump, trying to make it feel better. I felt his head relax into my hand, closing his eyes at the feel.

"Keep going", I pushed, wanting to hear the rest, and continued my rubbing, I mean that's what friends do, they help each other like that. Right?

"I remember turning around and seeing a huge hellhound. Thinking I could just banish it, I didn't get my sword out. I started to say the incantation to send it back to the underworld, but it growled and swung its tail at me again. I ducked, but someone kicked me in the gut, so I fell. I looked up and saw a… mud person. It grinned at me then… I guess I was knocked out", he finished, looking kind of troubled.

I took a hold of his hair around the bump and moved his head to look at me.

"Nothing to worry about now", I said to him, trying to calm him down.

"We need to know who did this, Chloe", he replied back gruffly, "They could get to us, to you."

On the inside, I was secretly screaming and laughing joyously at the overly sweet comment, but of course, on the outside, I stayed my strong self instead of the little girl trying to bust out.

"I'll be fine", I promised, rubbing the back of his head again. He nodded and looked out the window at the rapidly changing background.

I decided to get some sleep before we reached Mt. Saint Helens. I began to lay my head on his lap, but he stopped me.

"Yes?" I questioned, smiling at him. He smiled back, then did the most unexpected thing I could ever think my BEST FRIEND would ever do.

He grabbed my chin and kissed me.

He kissed me.

**Well Ladies and Gentlemen, there is my very first cliff-hanger. Thank you, thank you!**

**And I know I know I haven't updated in forever (and I am sorry for that, cuz I hate people to do that to me) so I am actually planning a new story. **

**A TRATIE STORY!**

**I am absolutely IN LOVE with Tratie, so this should be fun! Loves!**

**~The Grecian Goddess**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Nic's POV

We watched Nico and Chloe walk away.

I prayed to every god I could think of to keep them safe. I felt like I had a responsibility over Chloe, like we were family.

From my research of Dr. Parsons, I knew he had to daughters, Layla and Chloe. So that meant Chloe had an older sister, and since on live television, Dr. Parsons said that both his girls were from the same mother, Layla must be a demigod daughter of Demeter, too. But tabloids and magazines had named Layla Parsons the unofficial party girl of Florida. So, I guess Chloe didn't really have a sibling to go to. I felt like that person to her.

A hand was placed on my shoulder. I looked over and saw Meg. Wow, she was beautiful. I admired her for… well, having it all. She had the beauty, which I could say I also have, but she also had the brains. She was a child of Athena, after all. She even has the adventurous side.

She tugged on my shoulder. I started to walk and she followed. We were walking in a comfortable silence, being that in the busy train station was loud enough for the both of us. Then I heard a noise that was out of place. Even in the train station.

An unnatural cry of 5 _empousas. _

Meg and I swiveled around to see them running toward us, shoving mortals out of the way. I could hear the heavy _clink _of the monsters metal leg.

This whole quest we had not run into any monsters, and I was just started to think we were hopping around too fast to be detected. These monsters must live here and wait for demigods to come.

Meg pulled out two hunting knives from… nowhere. She got in her ready stance and waited for the oncoming _empousa_. I looked around for a place to jump up where I would have a good aim with my bow and arrow, but I apparently took too long. Before I could jump out of the way, a claw grabs my throat and slams me into a wall. I bite my lip to avoid crying out in pain.

The _empousa _moved her pretty face toward mine.She really was beautiful. She had caramel color hair and dark blue eyes that looked so hypnotizing… I was lost. Just looking into her eyes made me want to kiss her, hold her, want her…

"Nic!"

I'm almost positive if it wasn't Meg calling out to me, I would have been eaten by the monster. I shook my head and pulled my arrow out of the bow. I reached around the monster and stabbed the arrow through where I guessed her heart was. She screeched and turned to gold dust.

Eh, I really need to remember to keep my mouth shut when that happens.

I looked over… just in time to see an _empousa_ stabbing Meg, right through her stomach. At first it was like she hadn't noticed. She kept on fighting the monster, but the _empousa_ just laughed and took a step back. When Meg tried to step forward, she realized a knife was lodged into her stomach. She glared at the monster, then me, and fell.

I ran to her, but the _empousa _jumped over her to try and stop me. Meg must have taken care of the other _empousa_, because this was the last one. That is probably how she got stabbed; she was getting a little lazy with her fighting. I didn't even stop for the monster.

I knocked an arrow and, while still walking toward her, shot the _empousa _in the chest. I couldn't let anything stop me. Being a son of Apollo, therefore I was good at doctor stuff, I knew time was vital.

I drooped down and scooped Meg up. I knew I couldn't do anything is this crowd of mortals was around us. They must have gathered around during the fight. I heard them shouting stuff like "Can girls be gangsters?", "I would love to be mugged by those girls", and "Where did those girls go when that guy hit the lead one?"

Female gangsters, thank you Mist.

I grabbed Meg's knives and ran for the door. Security guards tried to stop me, either saying no running or asked if Meg was alright. Either way, I pushed them off and kept running. I shoved Meg into the car and jumped into the drivers' seat. I knew exactly where to go to get away from the mortals.

I drove until I found the forest we were in earlier.

With the guard of trees and how deep the forest seemed to be, it didn't look like anybody would be able to find us for the night. We were safe.

I knew I wouldn't be able to carry everything we had in the car and Meg deep into the forest, so I made the daring move to take the car with me. I turned off the headlights in case someone followed us, but I think we were out of there too quickly. I was able to see as if it were broad daylight; Apollo's kid perk.

It took a large amount of energy and work, but I managed to not crash into a tree. There were a few scratches, though. I was able to find a small clearing that we could fit in. I got out and ran to Meg's side. I knew she wouldn't be in good shape.

I immediately laid her on the ground and lifted up her shirt. I know that is really… perverted. But I had to have a clear path to her stomach. If it wasn't a life or death situation, I might have laughed about her "I am a Hunter" bra.

The knife was lodged in her stomach pretty far, only the hilt was sticking out. I knew if I freaked out, there would be no chance for Meg. The doctor couldn't freak out on a patent during surgery.

I ran to the car and grabbed a towel, and Ambrosia and Nectar. I knew all I had to do was get the knife out of her, then the godly food would handle the rest.

"This will hurt", I told her, not wanting to scare her, but prepare her.

She looked me in the eye and smiled.

"This isn't the worst pain I've been in."

I would have offered her my hand to hold on to, but I would need both of them. I looked at her with a 'sorry' look, but she just gave me a shaky smile and grabbed my leg instead. I put my hand on the dagger, and before she could expect anything, swiftly pulled in out.

The pain in my leg was almost unbearable; that girl has grip. I expected a scream or loud shout, but all she did was a low groan and deep breathes. I uncapped the nectar bottle and poured most of it on her stomach. The wound started to heal quickly, along with Meg's breathing gradually slowing down as the pain went away.

She stayed on the ground, laying there, looking at me. I smiled and laid down next to her. Through our trees you could barely see the stars, but we stared at them anyway.

I was going over the procedure in my head, making sure I had done everything right, when I felt Meg's hand wrap around mine. I turned my head to look at her and saw her looking down our intertwined hands. I moved my thumb over her knuckles, simply for reassurance.

"You've been in worse pain?" I asked her.

The fact that she could have ever been more hurt than having a dagger stuck in her stomach concerned me greatly. She didn't look up at me, just kept watching my thumb move over her hand.

"Emotional pain, Nic. I've been in the worst emotional pain."

Her voice broke at the end and I could hear her taking deep breaths so she wouldn't cry. She didn't continue, even though I really wanted her to. I knew from the beginning she was hiding something from me and Chloe. I could tell from the look in her eyes this had to do with that subject. I squeezed her hand, trying to get her to look up at me. It took a couple seconds, but she finally did.

"Tell me", was all I said. I knew she would understand what I meant. The moment I said this, she looked down again and shook her head.

I pulled her chin up so she was looking at me again.

"Please, you can tell me. You can trust me."

"I know I can", she sighed as she took her hand out of mine and stood up. I could tell she was still in slight pain because she gritted her teeth as she got up. I jumped up and helped her stand up straight. I grabbed some ambrosia and gave her only a small piece, because she already had more than enough nectar in her system. I silently watched as she ate and then was able to stand up on her own.

We didn't talk after this.

She went to the back of the car and pulled up the trunk. There wasn't much back there, but it was the bags that had everything in them, not the trunk. Like Chloe, I also had a bag that could fit virtually anything in. I think Meg's was kind of the same, but it seemed like whatever she wanted she could just pull out of her bag. Must be a Hunter thing.

Meg pulled her bag out and bent down and opened it. She (somehow) pulled out a tent. She walked over to a patch and began to set it up. If I wasn't such a nice guy, I wouldn't have bothered to tell her she was going around without a shirt on. But unfortunately, I was. I walked over to her bag to find a new shirt for her. I reached in. I felt through the fabrics.

Denim, jacket, ewe, I think that was underwear, silk, a thin fabric that has to be a shir… wait, silk?

I found the soft fabric again and started to pull it out, but hands stopped me. They gently pulled my hand away from the silk, replaced it in the bag, grabbed the shirt I had partially pulled out, and zipped the bag back up. I looked up to see Meg, looking at me with mixed emotions; anger, forgiveness, hate, and love. Wait, what?

She threw her bag over her shoulder and walked to her assembled tent. She looked back at me, gave me a small smile, then entered her tent.

What just happened?

I sat there for a few minutes, trying to process why the silk was so important. That had to have been the reason she took the bag.

I knew I probably just needed some sleep, so I got my bag out of the trunk and set up my own little camp.

20 minutes later, I laid down on my sleeping bag. I should probably check in with Chloe and Nico. I need to make sure the _empousas_ didn't get to them, too.

From my bag, I took out a flashlight, a drachma, and a crystal prism. I quickly made a rainbow, and threw in my drachma.

"Oh Iris, goddess of rainbows, please accept my offering."

The drachma disappeared.

"Chloe Parsons, on a train to Mt. St. Helens train station."

I knew that was kind of vague, but a few seconds later and image started to appear.

I grabbed the flashlight and moved it so that Chloe would be able to see me in the dark of my tent. When I turned back around, the image I saw shocked me.

The background was a train cabin. The door was closed and had the blinds down. The lights in the cabin were on, oh dear, and it illuminated two people. One person was sitting down, while the other person was in his lap, her hands in his hair, while his hands were wrapped around her waist and in addition to this…

Their lips were hopelessly attached.

All I was able to do was sit there in shock. I stared open-mouthed at the scene in front of me.

Why in Olympus name were Chloe and Nico kissing?

"Uh… guys?"

Both heads whipped to look at the Iris Message. Nico looked completely dumbstruck, staring at the message like it was a dream. Chloe must have understood what was happening and was blushing the color of a tomato, literally. Must be a Demeter thing.

"Oh, um… hey Nic!" she tried to say in her regular voice, but instead it came out at a very high pitch. I was still staring at them oddly, so she looked away. Then she noticed their position.

She scrambled out of Nico's lap, and stood up, running her fingers through her wild hair. I could still see the blue streak stuck in her hair.

"Heyyy…"

From there we sat in an awkward silence. Chloe and Nico seemed to be having a silent conversation, because at times she would shake her head and Nico would shrug. I made a pact with myself that I would just pretend the last 2 minutes did not happen.

"Anyway", I sighed, shaking my head and looking at the Iris message, "Meg and I got attacked by a pack of _empousas_ on our way out of the train station. Meg was stabbed in the stomach…"

"OMG, is everything ok? She did live, right? DUDE! If she didn't live we will not be able to finish the quest! We'll never find Thalia and Per-"

"Chloe! Chill, she's fine. I fixed her up. I just wanted to make sure you guys didn't get into any trouble…"

"Oh no, we were perfectly fine", Nico mumbled, to which Chloe slapped the back of his head. He looked up at her with an irritated look but, but it quickly melted away. She just laughed and kissed his nose.

"Sorry Nic", he apologized slightly in a daze.

"S'alright. Anyways, you guys can get back to… oh, um, yeah. Just make sure you get the guy and get out of there fast, ok?"

"You got it, Nic", Chloe said determinately.

"Alright, see ya", I said as I wiped my hand through the message. The last image I got was Nico pulling Chloe back into his lap. Oh dear. I need some air.

I walked outside, and was planning on asking if Meg wanted to go on a walk with me, but all the lights were out in her tent. She must be asleep.

I sighed and walked straight. From the way the woods looked on the outside, everything looked like it circled around.

So many questions were looming in my mind, and I didn't know which path I wanted to travel down first.

What do I do about Meg?

How in the world did Chloe and Nico end up making out in a train cabin?

What is our next move for the quest?

I was about to do the easiest thing, eenie-meenie miny mo, when I heard a noise. For all I now, it could have been an animal. But my legs apparently thought otherwise, because they jolted my body in the direction of the noise.

As I got closer, I heard the sound clearer. It heard like sobbing. A cold hard cry of utter despair.

I numbly kept going until I reached two bushes, guarding the path to the distraught person. I forged through them when I heard a whisper coming from the other side.

"Why did he have to leave me?"

The moment I heard the voice I knew who it was.

But, who had left her?

What if she had been in love before?

That's why she could have joined the hunters. She hates men now. Some bastard went and broke her heart. What chance do I have now?

I broke through the bushes and saw a beautiful sight in front of me.

A small lake took up most of the space, and it looked simply beautiful with the reflection of the half moon and trees surrounding it reflecting off its surface.

The only problem with the scene was a girl around 14 sitting on a large rock near the edge of the lake.

In the moonlight, the girl had flawless porcelain skin, her dirty blond hair shining, and also the illumination of tears streaming down her face. She was the weeping girl.

I stepped closer to her. She didn't notice. She was looking out at the lake, the tears coming at a fast but steady pace. The girl was wearing a silk dress and no shoes. Why was she wearing a dress? I thought all hunters hated the whole "girly" set-up. But there she was, looking absolutely stunning in a silk dress.

I took another step and took a deep breath. I was usually good with soothing people. I would always sing to them. Most of the time they were hymns to help with physical pain, but this wasn't physical pain. It was emotional. "The worst emotional pain".

"Meg?"

~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~

**Hey Ya'll! Sorry its been so long! I go to private school , you see, and the homework has been INSANE! I am actually writing during math class when I am supposed to be listening, but my math teacher's boring so I really don't care. **

**Anyway, I am also working on a new story! TRATIE TIME! So that could possibly be up soon, but I want to be close to the end of this story before I start another. I cant leave Nic, Chloe, and Meg hanging!**

**Long message, I know, sorry again.**

**LOVES!**

**~ The Grecian Goddess**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Meg's POV

"Meg?"

My heart beat faster as I heard the ever- so familiar voice reached my ears. I looked up at Nic, immediately wiping the tears from my face.

Alright, let's rewind to when I went into my tent.

_I smiled at a very confused- looking Nic and entered my tent. _

_The gingerly set my bag down and sat down on my plush sleeping bag. _

_That was close._

_Nobody except Lady Artemis and Clare knew about that dress. _

_I lay down and thought about the dress' perfect seams, and the flawless fabric, in addition to the fact it has an amazing figure…_

_I sighed and did the smart thing; I pulled the dress out of my bag and stared at it, in all its glory._

_It really was gorgeous; my father had the finest seamstresses make it for me. Oh, those days were so much fun. It was like the ultimate game of hide and seek, well, besides the fact that if I was found, I would be hated throughout the kingdom for "ruining their great king's life my being a girl"._

_I never took that stuff, and my father didn't like it either, but the people had a mind of their own. So, in order to keep me with him, because I was probably the most important child he's ever fathered, I was kept a secret._

_I kept staring at the dress, my dress, and finally decided to just put it on. I removed my current clothes and quickly slipped into the watery fabric. It felt cool against my warm skin; it was a pleasant shock._

_I reached up and let my hair fall around my shoulders. I looked in the mirror (Artemis' tents are trigged out) and saw a beautiful young woman; wearing a dress that stopped inches above her knees, with a simple heart-shaped neckline. It was a strapless dress, being that the fabric it was made of was of the finest ever made. The material was a map of Old Greece; before America was discovered, before Romans were a threat, before my life went haywire…_

_The pattern was in a sepia coloring, and the only countries that were labeled were the ones my father had conquered. _

_I still remember what he said when he gave it to me._

"_Alexandra, whenever you wear this dress, you must feel the power that you have. You have the grandest of mothers, and your father has conquered most of the world. You are one of the most important children of your time, and never forget that."_

_I knew then that my mother was the great goddess Athena. I smiled fondly at the memory, it was one of the best I had of my previous life. It was one of the times I had felt my strongest, most powerful. _

_But I could never let it get to my head. If my true identity was revealed, I would have to live the life of one hated princess. You see, the great ruler of Macedonia couldn't have a daughter. Daughters aren't strong like sons are. And the almighty ruler only had strong sons. _

_I could feel the anger boiling in my veins._

_I had to get out of this confining tent. _

_I quietly unzipped my tent and poked my head. I was praying to every god that Nic had gotten in his tent and gone to sleep. Then I would be alone for a while. Nic was nowhere to be found, but a second tent was set up next to mine. I saw some light through the thin lining of the tent, and heard other voices. He must be Iris-messaging with someone. _

_I slipped out of my tent and ran into the forest._

_I felt the grass under my feet. It was such a glorious feeling. It had been so long since I had run around without shoes. I had always thought it a little childish, so I never did this around the hunters._

_A large log lay in my path. I smiled. This will be fun._

_I increased my speed until I was at a full out sprint. The sensation burned my legs beyond belief, but the adrenaline of what I was about to do hid it well._

_Still at a fast pace, I jumped up as high as I could. Because of years of training and practicing, this was at least 10 feet in the air. _

_I felt like I was flying. _

_As gravity pulled me down, I tucked myself into a ball and jolted my small body forward._

_One flip, two flips, three, four, five, six…_

_Right on time, as always, I extended my feet and landed perfectly on the ground. _

_I let out a deep breath and smiled at my amazing feat._

_All the sudden, a clap echoed off the trees surrounding me._

_My first thought was that it had to be Nic._

_I couldn't let him see me like this. _

_I jumped behind a tree and started to climb it. If I could climb high enough, I might be able to swing onto another tree and escape back to my tent…_

"_Dear girl, you can't run from me. Nobody can run from Love."_

_The last time I had heard that voice was almost 5 years ago. A visitor had come to the hunter's campsite and requested to see me. I had been called into an empty tent, and this same voice had told me that soon, my true love would come along and release me from my hunter's oath._

_Of course, I had never believed this warning and ignored it, but now I wasn't so sure._

_Back to the voice, I slowly crawled back down from the tree and came face to face with Love._

"_Lady Aphrodite", I hissed out through my teeth. I started to bow, because even if though I didn't want her to be here, she was still an Olympian._

"_Oh, don't be silly. When I make little visits for my job I don't expect any formalities", Aphrodite rolled her eyes and waited for me to stand up straight again._

"_What do you mean 'visits for your job'?" I asked, even though I knew I would regret it before I even said it._

_The Love goddess giggled._

_My gods, she is annoying._

"_Dear Alexandra-"_

"_Don't call me that", I snapped. I guess all gods would know about my true past, but not even Lady Artemis dare use my real name. She uses my fake full name, by all means, but she at least understands that I don't want to think about my past. Like, at all._

"_Ohhh, let's not get snappy there, girly. You may not think much of me, but I am much more powerful than you give me credit for", Aphrodite threatened. To go along with her sentence she shot a pink orb of power racing toward to log I had just moments ago flown over. The log was hit, and milliseconds later burst into small pink and purple flames. _

_I tried as hard as I possibly could to not roll my eyes._

"_Anyways", Aphrodite said with a clap of her hands, "I am here to talk to you about… Nic!"_

"_What about 'im?"I asked, even though it wasn't hard to put two and two together._

"_Duh", Aphrodite dramatically sighed, "You two, young, beautiful, smart, battle- savvy, adorable…"_

"_Oh my gods, what!" I almost screamed out, but it came out as more of a desperate cry._

"…_are in love!" She said like a little girl who just watched the end of _Cinderella.

"_No, no, no, you are so very wrong there, Lady Aphrodite. We are very good friends who look out for each other. Nothing more", I tried to convince her, but I knew it was no good._

"_Oh my dear, how so very wrong you are!" Aphrodite mimicked, still giggling like a little girl in a princess dress._

"_Listen, Lady Aphrodite, there is and only will be one man in my life, and that is…"_

"…_your daddy, I know. I get that a lot. But OMG, get over it! Your dad died, like 1500 years ago! And he didn't even die in battle or anything, he died because of a major drinking prob…"_

"_Don't talk about him!" I roared, momentarily forgetting myself._

"_My, my, dearie, no need to raise your voice", Aphrodite said in an overly sweet voice. If I wasn't in her direct interest, she probably would have shot me down like she did with my log. _

_I turned away from her, trying to keep my cool. _

"_That's better. Now, hon, being me, and what a great deal that is, I know exactly how you feel about Nic. When you're around him, and you want to do is attack him with love. You want to kiss his lips and claim him as your own. But you're holding back, because you're in the Hunters, and they took you in. If you abandon then, you abandon your home for the past 1500 years. Anything I'm missing?"_

_If I was truthful and honest, and liked her a little bit, I would have said no. But I couldn't do that. I am the girl who has stood up for herself for 1500 years. I am the girl who nearly died for more hunters and other demigods that I could count. No way was I going to tell the gossipy love goddess about my secret love life._

"_You seem to be missing the fact I don't like Nic. I just told you, I will never get over my dad; he was the greatest father that ever lived. And I can't take on another male in my life."_

_Aphrodite's face started to turn red with anger._

"_And something's wrong with your face", I spat out, and then turned around to continue my interrupted walk._

_Before I could take a step, an excruciating pain stabbed my shoulder. I turned only to find a very well manicured hand squeezing the life out of my shoulder._

"_I did not come all the way here to be talked down to by some badly dressed hunter…"_

_Thanks for the compliment._

"… _Who can't live without her weak little old man…"_

_Been living without him for 1500 years, thank you very much._

"… _and can't admit she is in _love _with one of the hottest demigods since Paris. And he was adorable."_

_This conversation is going so well._

"_Listen, Lady Aphrodite, I didn't mean to offend you or any…"_

"_Listen here, girl", Aphrodite mocked me, her voice getting angrier by the second, "Your dad is DEAD! And I can make him even more dead if that is what is in the way of this amazing couple! Now get over the guy who LEFT you, and move on!"_

"_He didn't leave me!" I yelled back, not holding back anymore_

"_Then why isn't he here?" She hissed out at me, her smile curling in cruel expectation of my reaction._

"_Lady Aphrodite, if you don't mind, I would like to continue my walk", I said as calmly as I could. I had to get away from here, the sting of tears were threatening to give Aphrodite what she wants._

_I turned and began to run again. This time I didn't feel so good about it._

"_Remember my advice, dearie! Let go and you get the man of your dreams! Let go of the man who left you in the hands of people who wanted to kill you! Tata!"_

_I don't think I've ever run faster than I have at that moment. _

_He didn't mean to leave me with them; he didn't know they would do what they did._

_I looked in front of me in time to see a giant rock I was about to run into. I tucked and flipped over it, as I remember doing the same over my dad when we were pretend fighting in the courtyard._

_And that is what made the tears come. They fled down my face, completely un-called for._

_My dad didn't leave me. He tried to take care of me as long as he could. But he did have a drinking problem. I never thought the drink would end him. For a while I blamed myself, because I was there. I could have stopped him._

_But the more I thought about it I couldn't. He wouldn't have listened to me. The man was a complete drunk after two full cups. What could I have done?_

_Stupid little drops of water dripped down onto my feet. I couldn't handle feeling of my sorrows inside, feeling them on the outside wasn't helping much._

_I sat on the rock and tucked my legs as close to my chest as possible, not wanting to have the water hit my feet, confirming that I am actually crying right now._

_How could I let this stupid goddess of love do this to me? Now my tears were falling in anger. I beat my hand against the rock, ignoring the pain it slapped onto my hand._

_A rustle of the bushes came to my left. I jumped and prayed it wasn't Nic. I had tried as hard as I could to fit in with him, trying not to stick out in any way. This wouldn't help. Unlike Zoe, I didn't want people to know about my long past. I adapted to today's world; I learned their language, unlike Zoe again, who always said _thy _and stuff like that. Whenever last names started in the 8__th__ century, I got one. I did everything I could do to not stand out when the hunters did everything. Most of the hunters didn't even know I was older than most of their dead ancestors._

_A little bunny hopped out from behind the bushes, running like Speedy Gonzalez to his little rabbit hole._

_I let my breath out. Now that I was thinking of Nic, the thought only led to dad. He would have helped me through this… _

_I laughed a little, though from the outside it probably sounded like a broken-hearted gasp for air._

_My dad probably would have had Nic prove his worth to him. He would have made him joust 0 knights in a row, or have him command the army for a day, something that was completely impossible. But im sure Nic could do it. He was strong. Just like my dad._

_With tears still running down my face, I looked down at the clear surface of the lake, feeling totally miserable._

_I began to pray. I stared at the reflection of the moon. I was praying to Lady Artemis. But I knew that was a lie._

_Lady Artemis did mean a lot to me, but I was praying to my mother. She was the only one who could help me. I desperately needed answers from her. Starting with one._

"_Why did he have to leave me?"_

_Then, only seconds later…_

"_Meg?"_

And that is where I am now.

All I could do was stare wide eyed at Nic, watching my nightmare coming true.

He took a step toward me, testing his luck. I only lowered my gaze, admitting defeat.

He's already seen me, no point in running away.

Once I put my head down, I heard him take the last steps to my rock. He reached the rock, and instead of standing there and demanding answers, like I thought he would, he wrapped his arms around me. He pulled my body close to his, gently stroking my hair. I couldn't cry anymore, I wouldn't let myself, but it seemed like he was trying to get me to, just so I could be done with the tears. But I was done. I don't cry and I wouldn't anymore.

I heard his soft voice begin to sing. Knowing he was Apollo's kid, I thought he would probably be singing a hymn that helps calm a person down or something. I was about to get angry that he was trying to use magic on me, or whatever it was, but then I realized he wasn't signing anything like that. He was singing She's Everything by Brad Paisley. The song had absolutely no relevance at all to this situation, and I think that is why it was the most perfect song ever at the moment.

But he was singing about a girl, that he was absolutely in love with.

What if Aphrodite was right? Nic could feel the same way I do. He could be the one who was releasing me from my Hunters' oath. He had to be…

I was in love with him.

~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~

"Meg?" I heard him ask again.

"What?" I asked back softly.

"Listen, you need to tell me what is going on. I can tell you are hiding something from me."

Should I tell him? He might not understand. But if he is the one, then he has to know about my past. That is only the truth. I sighed.

"Then you might want to sit down. It's a long story."

He looked at me cautiously, but sat down next to me on the rock.

He stared at me, mentally prodding me to continue.

"Well, to start off with, I'm not 14."

"I could have told you that", Nic said jokily, throwing his arm around my shoulders, "Hunters are never the age they look. I learned that when I tried to hit on a 256 year old."

"You tried to hit on a hunter?" I asked seriously, looking up at him with my eyebrows raised.

"A long story for another time. We have to take care of your long story first", he smiled.

"Alright, here it goes."

I looked straight at him as I said my age:

"I am 1, 688 years old."

Instead of staring wide eyed at me, he slowly nodded his head, finding it believable.

"Well, hunters are pretty old", he said slowly, as if seeing if this was the right thing to say.

I just rolled my eyes and didn't reply to that little comment, mostly because I didn't want to snap at him, and also because it was true. Thalia was the "youngest", and I was probably the "oldest"

We stayed silent for a moment before Nic started talking again.

"So, there has to be more to that story. Based on how old you are, I know that you have to have lived around the time of Greece's hay days. So how was your life?"

Just thinking about it made my stomach fill with butterflies. Those memories were filled with laughter and fun, and… my dad. There was a good place to start.

"Well, I wasn't really just a peasant girl…" I started slowly, not really seeing how I could just flat out say this.

"So… you were the daughter of a lord?" Nic asked, trying to get the truth out of me. I felt bad holding it back, but this was hard to say. "Did you ever meet the king?"

"Oh yeah, I met the king. Many times", I chuckled dryly, but looked up at Nic to see he was itching to know of my parentage.

I sighed again, then, using my hands to help me explain it, revealed the secret.

"My dad was the king", I started with, still looking into Nic's eyes. I saw smile spread across his face.

"Now that is cool!" He grinned happily, squeezing my shoulders, "It must have been awesome to live in a castle, and have servants at your every will, and your dad-"

Hi smile faded and he looked at me in concern.

"Your father was probably threatened all the time! He could have been killed! You could have been killed! Even lesser known kings were threatened…"

"He was definitely not a lesser known king", I chuckled again, knowing the moment had come.

"My father was Alexander the Great."

**Hey you guys! My beautiful, lovely, greatly adored readers! Do you know how much I adore you for putting up with me? Loads, let me tell ya.**

**This was really supposed to be longer, but I really wanted a lot of emphasis on Meg's father. So… yeah, it ended here.**

**I have decided, as of now, to upload a second story. Really, my thought process right now is that is I have two stories, I take turns, and in order to make both of the stories upload at least every 2 weeks or so, it will help me with my timing. My goal is to right one chapter for one story in one week (the number one really is dominant here), so this story should be updated soon, being that I already have the first two chapters of the other story ready to go. (I know you probably want to kill me for working on another story when I REALLY should be focusing on this one, but I needed to get the idea down!)**

**Anyway, I swore I would never do a long note, but I just blew that out of the water. **

**Loves!**

**~Gigi**


	9. Chapter 9

**I must say this quickly, because I would feel bad if I didn't.**

**Crane's Shadow, I simply adore you. Thank you! **

Chapter 9

Chloe's POV

The Iris Message was immediately forgotten, and I was again placed on Nico's lap, kissing his soft lips. I was straddling his hips, and he had his hands placed under my shirt, but lingering only on my hips and lower stomach. His head was resting on the wall of the room, and I was pushing him against it even more, laying siege on his lips.

I was in heaven.

A knock came from the door.

We both looked up, as if we would see who was. The blinds were pulled, so we really couldn't.

(A/N I imagine this train like the Hogwarts Express from Harry Potter, so it is one of those sliding doors that is covered.)

I decided to ignore it, being that the other option was getting up and opening the door for the intruder.

When I turned back to Nico, I could see in his eyes that if I didn't get up, he would.

"Fine", I angrily sighed, putting my hands on his chest to push myself off him and taking the three steps to open the door.

Behind it stood an elderly lady. Once she saw me, she smiled kindly.

"Don't mean to intrude, dears", she said in a thick English accent (A/N sorry the whole English/ Harry Potter thing is getting to me!), "But there is nowhere else to sit on this train. I would love to have a seat."

I looked back at Nico, partly freaked out by this lady and partly angry that she indeed was intruding.

But Nico, wasn't looking at me, he was looking at the lady. He looked as if he knew her perfectly well, and saw right through her. She saw this and smiled toothily at him.

"Ok", I said loudly, looking between the two, "what is going on?"

My gaze landed on Nico, "You know her", I stated bluntly, raising my eyebrows, waiting for an answer.

The lady behind me laughed.

"You are just like your mother", she said, staring at me like she knew exactly who I was.

"Who are you?" I whispered, very scared and confused. She creepily smiled at me and started to advance into the room. I slowly back up, then felt arms around my waist. I was pulled backward and placed in Nico's lap.

"Calm down", he whispered in my ear. But my eyes did not leave this lady, who was now taking a seat across from us.

"Who are you?" I asked again pointedly.

She smiled again.

"Nico, nice to see you again. You haven't been down in a while", she said, ignoring my plea. I desperately looked at Nico for an answer. He slyly smiled at me and replied.

"Alecto, the same to you. And I've been… busy", he said rather uncomfortably, shifting his body under me.

My head whipped to the lady's face, as if expecting her to sprout sharp teeth.

"Alecto! You are a fury! What are you doing here! Oh my gods, you're not going to kill me, are you?" I said, all in one breath, fighting toward the door against Nico's arms. She just cackled at me.

"No, dear girl, I am not here to kill you. From the looks of it, it would anger my little master."

She cackled again at her little joke. I assumed Nico was little master, be that when I turned around, he was slightly blushing. The son of Hades blushing, that's not something you see every day.

"Why are you here, Alecto?" Nico asked as a change of topics.

"I have information for you", the fury said quietly, as if she wasn't supposed to be doing this.

"What is it?" I said eagerly. She may have killed the mood, but I really would like to change that.

"This boy you are going after, Liam", she said, "You cannot go get him."

Naturally, Nico's arms tightened around my torso, even more secure now that we were… a couple.

I put my hands over his hands that were lying on my stomach, soothingly brushing by thumbs over his cold hands.

"Why the hell not?" I asked rather rudely, but I believe it is called for. Liam was my best friend, and I would not just leave a memory like that.

"He is not what he tells you", Alecto said softly, seeming to feel my frustration. Nico decided to soften up as well by grabbing my hands and entwining our fingers together. He must have sensed my mood too.

"He is a demi- titan, or whatever they call it, and he is being forced to plan attacks on Camp Half-Blood. I am going to save him from his father so that he can he can help us", I said pointedly, punctuating every word. Alecto, and this is something I never expected from a fury, gave a soft, understanding smile.

"Listen, child", she said, sounding as if she was talking to her own kid, "I know how you feel. I have been on the opposite end. My job is to manipulate people, make them think I am someone, or something, that I am not. And the thing about this, is that I can spot people who are doing the same."

Then a thought hit me.

"How do you know about all this, about me getting Liam?" I asked her. She looked pointedly at Nico but said nothing. Getting her message, I slid off Nico's lap and moved to the other side of the bench. He looked at me questioningly, reaching for me to pull me back, but I smacked his hand away and looked back at Alecto.

"How do you know?"

She was looking back and forth between us, as if she was confused. Then when she saw the way I smacked Nico's hands away, she seemed to get my thought process.

"Oh, no!" she said rather quickly, "Little master Nico did not tell me!"

Nico looked at me pleadingly, so I scoot next to him for him to put his arm around my waist.

"Who told you then?" I asked quietly, really wanting the answer.

"This boy you want, he's been making attacks on the underworld. He's been trying to make it to the entrance of Tartarus. Once when we got him his bag was full of a mysterious powder. This powder, he told us, was made to bring back the dead. He had a whole bag of it. He planned to bring back Titans."

A moment of silence.

"Well, he could have been forced to do that, like everything else", I said in defense.

"If that were the case, why would he feel so strongly toward the cause?" Alecto asked me. Now I had no idea what she was talking about.

"He is being forced to do this!" I snarled at her, making my point clear.

"Please, my girl", Alecto said, softly again, "I can see your fatal flaw is taking over the best of you."

"What is my fatal flaw?" I asked, trying not to sound anxious about it, but I really was. Chiron had told us that you can't find out your fatal flaw until you go on a quest or something like that. You need to be in the field to find out what your inner weakness is.

"Denial", Alecto said simply. I leaned back, not having realized I had moved forward.

"What?" I said, my voice cracking. I never deny anything!

"When it had to do with something, or someone, you care about, you try to get yourself to believe what you want. It is fatal because you could possibly trick yourself into thinking a situation is not as bad as it truly is, leaving you with no preparations."

I was silenced by this. Could this really be my fatal flaw? It wasn't something cool like caring for your friends or something?

Then Nico talked for the first time, and his face looked slightly confused.

"Why was I not told about these attacks?" He said, but it was more like a growl. He stared coldly at Alecto, who looked at him in surprise.

"I was not aware little master did not know", she said, looking at him questioningly. Nico looked down at me, as if seeing if I had the answer.

But I had another question.

"How do you know Liam feels 'strongly for his cause'?" I asked, quoting her.

She cocked her head slightly, laughed evilly and stood up.

"I'm afraid I've said enough", she sighed collecting her little purse and heading toward the door.

"You are _not _seriously leaving", I told her, only thinking that this only happens in movies.

"I'm afraid so", Alecto cackled again, "You will achieve greatness, dear girl. Remember that. I hope to see you soon, Nico."

Nico nodded his head toward her and she walked out of the cart.

I jumped up to follow her, but naturally, she wasn't there when I open the door.

I plopped back down.

"That was so not helpful", I mumbled.

"Well, are we still going?" Nico asked quietly, and I could tell he wanted me to say no.

"Liam is not bad!" I exclaimed, not letting go of his memory.

Nico just weakly smiled.

"We'll get him and then go meet up with Nic and Meg", Nico said quietly, almost like he reassuring himself that was all that was left.

~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~

We got off the train, at a train station that looked right upon Mt. St. Helens. Unfortunately, Nico and I were in too much of a mood to continue our make-out session, to my dismay.

I watched the train speed away, leaving us with five hours before the next train to Miami, Florida.

We had to work fast.

~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~,~

After two hours of hiking up the trial to the top of the volcano- and an hour looking for the right hiking gear (no way was I going up there in my favorite skinny jeans and Miami Heat sweatshirt)- I felt a …pull. It was like a rope tide to my heartstrings, pulling me to the left. I swiveled around, quickly walking in the pulling direction.

Nico followed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw his confused glance, and slightly worried.

I could feel the rope pulling me… right into the face of a rock. What was this?

I set my hand on the rock, knowing that it was important,

That's when I saw it. A small plant with the tiniest flower sprouting from the top. It didn't stand out, but I could tell it was meant for it.

Because it was pink.

I had always said my favorite color flower was pink.

I skipped to the flower, Nico close behind me.

I touched the flower. It spread at my touch.

We watched in awe as the vine wound its way over the rock, forming a …. Door.

Once the vine hit the ground on the other side, a light shown from the circular space inside the vine. When it went away, a wooden door stood in front of us, already at an ajar angle, waiting to be pushed open.

"We did it", I said aloud, grinning with achievement. I looked at Nico. He didn't look very happy.

"Well, not yet. We have to get the guy first", he grumbled, taking the lead and pushing the door forward.

I rolled my eyes and trotted after him.

The hallway the door led into was lit by multiple fires burning in braziers along the walls. Carved into the rock above each one was a name.

Nico went to one side, while I went to the other.

The Greek was easily translatable. We walked along the walls, my fear hitting a high as the name processed through my mind.

We reached a crossroads, where we stopped and looked at each other.

"There all Titans' names", Nico said, mimicking my thoughts. I nodded my head.

"But the big one in the middle of them all was for Gaea", I told him quietly, still on the alert, "Why would they have offering for her? She has to be long-gone by now."

"I don't know", Nico sighed, looking down the hallways and deciding to go straight, taking my hand to pull me along with him, "Maybe it's just protocol."

"I doubt almighty Titans have protocol", I sighed, but followed him nonetheless.

We found no trouble in the stuffy caves, but just as we were about to turn another corner, I saw a snippet of a deep, rich orange colored wood door.

"Here", I whispered loudly, my stomach exploding with the thought of the memory behind those doors.

I sprinted to the doors and took hold of the handles. I pulled with all my might.

The doors swung open to reveal the same room I had seen in my dream. The room was dimly lit and rather vague, only a highly decorate throne sitting at the other end of the room.

But no Liam.

"So what now?" Nico whispered loudly, the cave echoing back his question.

"I don't know", I replied honestly, looking around the room again to make sure he wasn't hiding.

We walked further into the room. And that's when the doors shut.

We whipped around to see the hallway disappear. Nico rushed to the handles, tugged on them, and instead of making a fool of himself by continuing to pull, returned to my side.

I had immediately put myself on guard, pulling out my hair clip, my shield latching onto my arm, and withdrawing the dagger supplied in the back of it.

But before I could really get in a protective stance and get prepared, I felt the tug again.

It was much stronger than before. I could feel Liam's presence around me, like he had my waist in his arms again.

I moved forward, feeling the tug toward the throne. I ran forward, eager to get out of here and find what I am supposed to.

The Tug (as I will now call it) pulled me to the side of the throne, where the lightest of lines was seen, like a doorway hidden on the side of an attraction at Disney World.

Luckily, I knew how to open it.

I took a plant out of my small sling purse I had managed to keep with me. The same plant I used to wake up Meg. I smiled slightly and shook my head; half at my stupidity of that moment, and to get the cheery scene out of my head. I felt like if any happy thoughts entered this room, they were taken care of quickly.

I willed the plant to twist its thin vines into the crack, the weed barely squeezing in. I imagined the plant as hard as a rock, and when I tugged in the small pot, I was satisfied at the firm hold of the plant on the door.

I jerked the pot backwards, trying to pry the door away from it right position.

The door flew backwards. I shook my head, trying to shake the feeling that… _that was just too easy_.

But I'm it is just because Hypnos didn't expect anyone to be in there.

Then why, the door was out of the way, I was faced with the smiling face of Liam Prince, his own son?

Liam smiled down at me, being that he was much taller than me, and immediately grabbed me around the waist, giving me a huge hug.

"Chloe! You're here! I knew you would come!" He quietly exclaimed in my ear, joyfully picking me up of the ground.

I chuckled lightly, pulling away from his hug, finding it a little tough to wrench my body away from his.

I smiled shakily at him, feeling something… off.

I looked at Nico, who was patiently waiting by the door, seeming to be muffling a glare directed at Liam.

I watched Liam, seeing the same expression.

"Liam, this is Nico-"

"Her boyfriend", Nico threw in, still with a sustained glare, but I saw him take a quick glance at me to make sure his words were ok. They were.

I blushed lightly, but I'm sure the lighting hid it well.

"My… boyfriend. He helped me get here. And now we have to…" I stopped suddenly, and unsecure feeling washing over me, "leave."

I looked at Nico, and saw the worry on his face. He felt it too.

Liam was looking back and forth at us, his hair flipping fabulously as he tried to figure what our stiff postures and sudden expressions were about.

"Is something… wrong?" He laughed nervously.

After a few seconds, I replied:

"I guess not. It's just like… something happened. What do you think Nico?"

Liam snorted.

"He has no idea! How would he know if you don't?"

I was taken back at his attitude, but laughed lightly, trying to lighten to mood. But Nico wasn't feeling it. He looked at Liam with a small smile and _his_ death glare. He would have that mastered.

"Because, Mr. Prince, I happen to be a son of Hades. I can sense souls around, can sense trouble. And I can tell you that right now, there are over a hundred monsters standing outside this door", He finished regrettably, pointing behind his at the door.

And it seemed his words were true, because shadows could be seen moving under the crack of the door.

I took a deep breath. This couldn't be good.

"Don't worry, Chloe", Liam said reassuringly, seeming not to give a sweat about the fact we may not get out of here, "I'm sure I can get us out of here."

My shoulders slumped, doubting his words.

"How do you plan on taking care of this, Liam?" Nico asked him, managing to put a good amount of venom on his name.

"Well," Liam replied back with an egotistical air, "I _am_ the son of their master, I'm sure that can earn be some brownie points."

I stared wearily at Liam, wondering where his arrogant attitude had come from. This was not how I remembered him.

At this point Nico was staring at me, his eyes begging me to put our escapee in line. I shook my head.

"We need to focus on getting out of here before we do anything else", I said, trying to put as much command in my tone as possible, but the voice cracks in my voice were evident.

I walked to the door, my eyes trained on the handle, not willing to look at either of the guys.

I put my hands on the handles, and could here, movement stop behind the door. They knew we were coming.

Liam walked up behind me, and I could feel his arm snake loosely around my waist and his other hand covering mine. I could tell what he was doing. I backed away from his touch, and right into Nico's, who im guessing was about to give Liam a butt-whooping.

But that, I would return to at a later time.

I was seriously second-guessing this decision.

Liam was… not the same. He was manlier, not so free-spirited and _fun _anymore. What the Hades had happened?

Liam swiftly pulled open the doors, seeing the faces of many monsters immediately putting down their weapons and falling to their knees.

"Liam, Son of Hyperion", they mumbled, together for the most part.

Liam smiled evilly at them.

"What are you doing here? _Everyone _should know that they are only allowed in the throne room upon request of our lord. And were you requested? No", he answered for them. I could see his tactic. Make them feel stupid so that they won't question him.

But that backfired.

The monsters; consisting of _empousa, _snake-women, small winged looking things that looked as if their wings were on fire, and a few others I didn't recognize; immediately stood up, yelling in protest.

This couldn't be good.

"Silence!" Liam yelled, but the monsters did not.

Only snippets were heard, but from it I could hear stuff about Lord Hyperion calling all monsters to the throne room.

He knew we were here.

I turned to Nico.

"Is there any way that some skeletal creatures from the Underworld could show up about now?" I whispered desperately.

"Yes, that could happen, but enough to defeat them all would drain me too much. I would barely be able to walk", Nico said very quietly, not liking that he had to admit defeat against this.

"Not to defeat them, just a distraction", I said, getting a bit hysterical. This was not supposed to happen. We were supposed to be in and out. Nic would kill us if we didn't get out of this, but I'm sure someone else would do that for him.

When my thoughts came back to the present, I saw Nico's face turning pale dramatically. I was about to ask what's wrong, but then I heard the screaming.

I smiled and laughed quietly. Who knew monsters where big babies?

Without a second thought, I grabbed Nico's hand and sprinted out the door, using my other hand to pull Liam along with us, who was wearing a very confused face.

The huge crowd looked impossible to fight through, but with Nico's control over the skeleton beasts, a thin path was quickly carved out of the pack. We sprinted through it.

Once we managed to hit the empty hallway we had come through, Liam grabbed my hand and pulled me in a different direction that the way we have came.

"I know a better way out of here. My dad probably already knows about the one I created for you to come in. We have to go through the main entrance, where he doesn't expect us to go."

With all my adrenaline and worry, his statement made sense. I gave him a quick nod and ran after him, pulling an annoyed Nico after me. I knew he was annoyed about Liam taking the lead after his tiring feat with the skeletons, but with monsters fighting to run after us and more monster noises seeming to pour out of opposite hallways, I had no intention of stopping to get him to smile.

We sprinted after Liam and patiently followed him through twisting hallways that seemed to lead nowhere.

My chest was heaving, and I'm sure that my throat had never hurt more than it had now. But even when I slowed down for a second, the sounds of wings and screeching and claws clacking on the stone floor kept me going.

Then, we made it.

I saw the door, the light, the sky full with plump white clouds and a shining yellow sun. Just the sun fueled me with energy. Demeter kid thing.

I could feel the wind in my hair, the sun on my skin… when a huge flame captured the view of the outside world.

Hyperion replaced the giant blaze, his huge frame blocking the door. His face was contorted in an angry sneer, and a furious look in his eyes, directed at his son.

We were running at too fast to be able to stop. My mind was already racing at how in the world we could manage to fight a _Titan _to get out the door.

But there was no need for that.

10 feet away from an angry titan who was ready to fry us, I heard heavy breathing to my left, then a hand roughly grab my hip.

I nearly jumped out of my skin, but when I saw an olive skin-colored hand also grab Liam's shoulder.

The always-unexpected sensation pulled through my stomach.

The feeling of shadow-traveling.

In the middle of the journey, I felt like my mind was being picked through.

The sensation rolling through my stomach was already overbearing, but then my brain feeling like it was being mixed by a spork really made me want to let out my lunch.

But before the sensation could take over, my feet landed on solid ground, and I opened my eyes to see… my house.

Nico's hand was still clasped around my hip, but he immediately slipped his hand off Liam's shoulder. I looked up to see the porch lights on in front of the house, being that it was night time, had to be close to midnight.

The front of Dr. Parsons' mansion had beautiful Greek architecture; columns holding up the roof, statues and braziers expertly littering the porch in a way that made the engravings carved into the border of the house more noticeable. One could tell Greece was a strong influence over the family.

"Wow, nice house", Nico commented.

"Yes, the architecture is really something", Liam threw in, looking at me to smile. I happily smiled back. We made it!

"Well come on in, fellas!" I exclaimed merrily, pulling away from Nico to prance up the front steps and pulling the handle to open the door. With all the high-tech stuff my dad can afford, one thing I like is the fingerprint recognizer at the doors. I always lost my keys, to everything, and this really helped with my memory loss problems.

The lights to the 'Atrium', as my dad calls it, referring to the Latin word for the open space of a Roman villa where all the rooms were branched off from, were off, but I could see the light streaming from the slightly closed door of the T.V. room.

I walked toward it, hearing the boys' footsteps following me, but hesitated at the door. From what I could tell, Nic and Meg have … chemistry. I had no idea what to expect when I pushed the door open. But it wasn't the sight I anticipated.

The room was smaller than the others in the house, but it was still lavish. A huge T.V. hung on the wall opposite the door I entered, facing the white leather couch that was shaped like an 'L'.

The T.V. was tuned to the History Channel, and I noticed from the title in the corner that it was about Greek Architecture. A boring voice was droning on about the importance of many columns that held up the Parthenon. All I could see of the coach from the door was Nic's head laying back. He must be asleep.

I stealthily walked to the front of the coach. I was right.

Nic was sitting on the coach, and had his head hanging backwards, fast asleep. One of his arms was sprawled across the backside of the coach, while the other rested on a peaceful looking Meg.

Meg was lying down on the coach, and using Nic's lap for a pillow. Their hands were slightly apart, as if they had fallen asleep with their fingers intertwined.

I didn't know if I thought it was cute or disturbing.

I saw the boys behind me, and silently signaled them to get out. They nodded and obeyed, but I went to the cupboard under the T.V. and pulled out blankets. After covering both Meg and Nic as best I could, I retreated out of the room and shut the door.

I turned around to find another unexpected sight.

Nico and Liam seemed like they were shaking hands, but their fingers were turning white from how tight they were holding, and their eyed were locked in battle. I coughed lightly, looking at them with a questioning gaze.

Nico wrenched his hand and walked toward me, smiling like nothing happened.

"So what are we going to do now?" He asked.

"Um, go to sleep, I guess", I said after a few seconds of thinking. I looked at the boy's faces for affirmation.

Liam smiled and nodded, offering his hand and gesturing his head toward the stairs. I smiled back and took his hand, letting out a little laugh as he pulled me toward him and acted like we were dancing toward the stairs.

"Actually", I said between my quiet laughs, pulling away from him. "You guys will be staying in the guest rooms down here."

I pointed to two doors and motioned for them to follow me. I opened the doors at the same time, being that they were right next to each other. I bit back a groan when I saw the left room filled with clothes and shoes and purses…

Layla's been here.

I turn to the boys with a smile.

"Scratch that, one of you will have to stay in the one by my room…"

"I will", Nico interrupted, seeming to stare daggers at Liam and smile kindly at me at the same time. Liam just sneered at him and folded his arms. I looked at both of them. What children.

"Then, I guess this is your bedroom, Liam", I said with a fake smile, noticing his disappointed face.

"Alright", he said, clearly trying to change my mind with his puppy-dog face. He began to enter the room, then swiveled around the stand in front of me.

"Thank you, Chloe", he said softly, placing a hand on my cheek. I could practically hear Nico's intake of breath. I pulled away from him before anything could happen. I've seen enough movies in my time to know this would end.

"Good night", I replied quickly, turning toward the stairs and dragging Nico behind me.

I pulled him up the stairs and stopped at the door of my room, banging my head softly against the door.

I felt his arms slowly wrap around my waist and pull me against his chest. I looked up at his face. His face looked worn. I couldn't blame him, he just shadow-traveled 3 people across the United States.

"Do i get to sleep in your room?" He asked with a smile, clearly joking. I pulled away from him and opened my door. I pointed to the door across from mine.

"Bed's in there, bathroom is the door to the left, make sure to shut the door or my sister might see who it is", I say with a little laugh.

"Goodnight Chloe", he said moving to his door.

"Good night."

I started to enter my room, when I was flipped around and kissed, quite passionately, if I must say.

I pulled away with a smile and ran my hand through his hair.

Finally, I was able to lay in my bed.

I was so tired I couldn't… even… think…

"Goodnight, Chloe."

I heard, then drifted off into much needed sleep.

**Yes, I know you all hate me. I again must blame my awful school schedule. And now im in Track & Field, so my after-school writing hours are done, in addition to this I have play practice coming up soon, so it might be worse. I'm trying desperately to finish this story to both appease my loving readers and my raging conscious that is awfully mad at me. Thank you all!**

**Loves, Gigi**


	10. Author's note: do not be alarmed!

**To my faithful readers,**

**I truly do love you all, despite my lack in updating. It actually makes me cringe when I realize how badly I have neglected this story. I truly am sorry. So, to hopeful appease you, my loyal bookworms, and snag a few more readers, I have decided to re-write the story. Nothing big; same plot-line, same lovable characters, same everything. I just think my writing skills have seriously improved, which is good for everyone. I also believe if I sit down and start this baby from near scratch, I can get my previous muse to hop on out of the woods and come back to me once more. I plan on starting immediately, and with all my hope and hopefully yours as well, I will see you soon.**

**Love, ~Gigi **


End file.
